Taken

Starring: Liam Neeson, Maggie Grace, Leland Orser, Jon Greis, Katie Cassidy, Xander Berkeley, Famke Janssen
Directed by: Pierre Morel
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Action, Drama, Thriller
2009

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: After his daughter (Maggie Grace) is kidnapped in Paris, a former spy (Liam Neeson) goes to extraordinary lengths to track her down and bring her home.

Review:

Tim: If you were to ask me before I watched Taken about my guesses as to what would prevent this movie from being great, I might have guessed the plot holes. I might have guessed the redundancy of this plot with other, similar movies. And, I would have been correct. However, I would never have suspected that the performance of a terrific actor like Liam Neeson would have been one of the contributing factors. I liked this movie a lot, but I was surprised I didn't like it more. I'll explain more.

Neeson is, without a doubt, a fantastic actor. He is more than capable of playing this role, and doing it well. Indeed, I thought his action scenes, his obsession and relentless scenes were all remarkable. Unfortunately, the ordinary, everyday man scenes were completely and totally unbelievable. I did not buy his relationship to either his ex-wife or daughter. Neeson seemed uncomfortable and out of his element here. The three of them never struck me as a family, or of even knowing each other. These scenes felt forced, unnatural, and odd. The whole beginning of the film sets up this story of a father's love for his daughter, but I never bought it for a single second. This greatly hurt the movie in my mind. Neeson is chiefly responsible for this. While he does make up for it with his later scenes of badassery, these early scenes got the movie off to a rough start.

Neeson shares some of the blame with his co-stars. Famke Janssen felt completely weak, and I typically like her. She felt uncomfortable, out of place, and as if she was trying way too hard. I didn't like her at all here. I also thought Maggie Grace was fairly weak. It is clear that she is much older than 17 years, and I thought her performance was infantile and unbelievable. This whole family dynamic did not work for me. I'm not sure what happened in these early scenes, but I was completely thrown off by how poor they were. Luckily, the family scenes are relatively short, as the plot quickly thickens and we get to the more action-oriented scenes.

Although this story has been done before, in Ransom, Man on Fire, and other similar movies, there is something fascinating about watching a father or paternal figure go up against overwhelming odds to rescue his younger, female kin. For this reason, I was mostly able to forgive the fact that I had seen this movie before (now that I think about it, throw Frantic in the mix as well). The story itself is entertaining, and it is easy for the audience to root for Neeson. Director Pierre Morel does a terrific job of painting our heroes as the good guys, and ensuring that the villains are despicable and easy to hate. While we watch, we become emotionally invested in this story, so when the bad guys get beat up or killed, it is supremely satisfying.

The action scenes in this film are actually quite remarkable. The action is fast-paced, gritty, and entertaining to watch. I love movies where the hero has either nothing to live for or is willing to risk everything to achieve his or her objective. This movie fits that mold, and it is terrific to watch as Neeson moves forward like an unstoppable juggernaut, unwilling to let anything get in his way.

Now, there are some flaws to this film. There are some massive plot holes, where logic has completely fallen to the wayside. These are somewhat forgivable because they move the plot forward and get us to the next action scene, however, they do detract from the film's realism, and hurt the overall feel of the movie.

While Taken does leave some of its potential behind, this is still a very, very good movie. I was a bit surprised I didn't like this movie more, because I had an uncommon number of people tell me how much they loved this film before I saw it. The love for this movie was almost overwhelming, which I feel was a bit overrated. This is a solid, entertaining action movie that I really enjoyed. However, I also saw the potential for greatness here, although this was not to be.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating- 7.5



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: Ransom, Frantic, Panic Room, Man on Fire