As my girlfriend Karina and I made plans to go to the movies, I jumped on the computer to check show times.
“The next movie starts in 20 minutes,” I told her over the phone. “Which movie is it?” she questioned. “It’s that movie with Liam Neeson called ‘Taken’.”
We agreed that the trailers for this film were pretty exciting, but we had been fooled by fancy trailers in the past. We checked the reviews for the movie but got mixed signals; professional critics gave it a C- while Yahoo! reviewers gave it an A. We decided to take our chances and made our way to the theater.
Within the first 10 minutes, the film connects you to its protagonist, Bryan Mills (Liam Neeson). A highly skilled ex-government agent, Bryan has missed a good portion of his 17-year-old daughter’s life. In an effort to salvage their relationship, he retires and moves closer to his daughter Kim (Maggie Grace), her mother Lenore (Famke Janssen) and her new stepfather. Unfortunately, Bryan’s “be careful” attitude causes turbulence when Kim asks him if she can go to Paris with her friend Amanda. After some typical teenage angst, Bryan gives permission. Unfortunately, Bryan’s hesitations prove sound when Kim is kidnapped. When confronted with one of the kidnappers-through Kim’s phone-Bryan says, “I don’t know who you are. I don’t know what you want. If you are looking for ransom, I can tell you I don’t have money. But what I do have are a very particular set of skills; skills I have acquired over a very long career. Skills that make me a nightmare for people like you. If you let my daughter go now, that’ll be the end of it. I will not look for you, I will not pursue you. But if you don’t, I will look for you, I will find you, and I will kill you.” And with those words, Bryan returns to his world of violence.
A main component that makes this movie a success is the non-stop action and suspense. The thrilling car chase scene and the multitude of fist and gun fight scenes are exquisite. They are very cleverly crafted and mostly realistic. I’m always bothered by fake fight sequences in movies that mean to be authentic (e.g. The Run Down starring The Rock), so this film is a nice break from the mediocre. “Taken” delivers practical fight moves likely to be used by well-trained government agents and intelligent hide-and-shoot techniques. I was only slightly bothered with the bad aim of Bryan’s enemies (two minutes of car chasing and shooting, and they can’t hit him? Come on.) and the high-speed chase scene with Bryan driving on a one-way street (leave that kind of driving for Trinity in The Matrix); aside from that, everything else about the movie was believable.
Ultimately, I think “Taken” is one of the better films to come out this year, and I strongly recommend this movie to everyone. It’s a perfect date movie because the film caters to viewers who love action and suspense (e.g. James Bond films) and also to viewers who prefer drama and tear-jerkers (a la Lifetime). So what are you waiting for? Go see it already.
Rating: 4 out of 5
Direct by Pierre Morel and distributed by 20th Century Fox, “Taken” is rated PG-13 and currently playing at Hollywood Theaters and Cinemark Mall del Norte.