Review of Taken (2004) by Johann M — 05 Mar 2013

"Taken" is an exciting action thriller that is sure to please audiences. Liam Neeson in the lead role is perfect as a father that at first seems meek and a pushover, but quickly turns into a real action hero without transforming into an invincible "Terminator" robot.

What's essential for this kind of film to work are the villains. You want them to be despicable (so you can cheer the hero when he turns them into a bloody pulp) but they also need to be believable and threatening.

Here the villains are human traffickers that specialize in kidnapping women to sell them as slaves or prostitutes (a welcome change from the typical terrorists or evil geniuses we usually get in these types of films) so already the stakes are way up.

It's easy to sympathize with "Bryan" as he does whatever he can to get his daughter back and you hate the villains for the disgusting trade they're involved in. As the movie shows glimpses of the world the antagonists are part of, you get a brief but intense feel of what is going on in this very real issue and your desire to see these dirt bags bleed keeps going up.

It's also a lot of fun to see the movie because the protagonist is smart, there are some good chases and some great one-liners ("Bryan's" speech about his particular set of skills for example) so you have all the ingredients necessary for a great and memorable action/thriller.

(Extended cut on Dvd, May 11th, 2012).