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VideoHound Lists with Taken
Taken
Ex-spy and estranged dad Bryan Mills (Neeson) moves to L.A. to be nearer 17-year-old daughter Kim, his ex-wife (Janssen), and her moneyed second husband to atone for his years of absence--but Kim's off to Paris for the summer. His concerns for her safety dismissed, Kim goes and is almost immediately abducted, although she makes one desperate phone call to dad who sets retirement aside and springs into action. With help from former colleagues and a lifetime of experience facing bad guys, Mills has mere hours to sort out ruthless Albanian kidnappers, perverse Arab sheiks, and assorted nasty evil-doers to spare Kim from a violent career as a sex slave. Typical action thriller, but Neeson is imposing in the midst of a pretty implausible narrative.
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VideoHound Rating:
Release Date:
Run Time:
93 minutes
Rating:
PG-13 - Parents Strongly Cautioned
Genres:
Subgenres:
Starring:
Director:
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Imagine Jason Bourne or Jack Bauer twenty years down the road with an ex-wife and a daughter who doesn't think he's all that cool any more. Sure, they’ve put their spy skills on the back burner, but kicking ass is like riding a bicycle. You don't forget the basics. Now ...Read More
A pure meat and potatoes "guy movie" that really delivers the goods. It's not too over-the-top like other films of this nature tend to be. (Think an aging Jason Bourne with a teenage kid that someone nabs) I enjoyed the character set up and the tracking of the perpetrators of the kidnapping. Retribution is nasty, fierce and fitting and it was just what I was looking for with this movie. There?s some nice tension throughout the film and great justification for the lead's actions.
Because that's how I felt after watching this movie -- taken for the $4.95 it cost to rent this piece of crap.
The movie plays out as if a first-year screenwriter had filled in a screenplay template with cliche after cliche after cliche: absentee father trying to win his way back into his daughter's heart; ex-wife remarries wealthy man who gives daughter everything bio father cannot; entire sophisticated crime syndicate brought to its knees by a retired spy gunfighting his way across Paris.
I kept wondering what Liam Neeson was thinking when he took this role. I was actually embarrassed for him in many scenes. In fact, I'm still embarrassed for having watched the entire movie.
"Jean Claude, I'll tear down the Eiffel Tower if I have to!" Seriously, who says that?! Steven Seagal, that's who. Had it been Mr. Seagal in the title role, I could have easily bypassed this stinker and saved myself 1.5 hours I'll never get back.
Liam Neeson seems like an unlikely bad-#!@%*#. However, that's what helps make this movie so awesome. His skills seem to be as innate as his determination. Word of advice: Do Not Watch the PG-13 Watered Down Version. There are a few scenes that really can only be appreciated by seeing the R or Unrated version of this film. Although it's somewhat predicable, the story and the action are top notch. There's one scene in particular, in the dining room of his French counterpart, where Liam's character uses a highly unexpected method to glean information from his "friend". Great story, great acting, great movie. Enjoy.
Good Luck
More About Taken
Writer:
Cinematographer:
Composer:
Art Direction:
Costumes:
Editing:
Production Design:
Sound:
Tagline:
They took his daughter. He'll take their lives.
Color:
Color
Silent:
No
Format:
DVD
Language:
English
Distributor:
Not Yet Released
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