SCORE
-4 out of 5-
CREDITS
- Brian Mills: Liam Neeson
- Maggie Grace: Kim
- Famke Janssen: Lenore
- Directed by Pierre Morel
- Written by Luc Besson
STORY
This film centers on Brian Mills, played brilliantly by Liam Neeson, a former CIA operative who has retired. His career cost him his marriage to Lenore and a closeness to his daughter Kim. In young retirement he is determined to reconnect with his daughter before she heads off to college. His marriage is irretrievable, though; his ex-wife has remarried. This makes it doubly important to reconnect with Kim, because the stakes are higher: if he doesn't make a connection in her life as her father, then she may always think of him as her Dad. Eventually Kim is abducted and Brian returns to work, mercilessly hunting those who have taken her, tracing her with utter singularity of purpose.
Taken does an excellent job where many action movies fail: setting up characters the audience cares about. Shootouts are expected; touching scenes detailing Brian's devotion to his precious daughter are not. Where many films rely on the spectacle of the battles, Taken invests us in the outcome first. Brian is a good man, and we want to see his daughter recognize the good in him that we do. When she's torn away from him, we feel the horror he must feel even as we see all the warmth drain from his eyes as he returns to a job he was very good at.
As action films go, Taken is much smaller in scale and much more plausible than most. The shootouts, fist fights and car chases are not epic in scope, but seem more reasonable. Even a clever trick pulled by Brian to disguise his location consists of taping a walkie-talkie to a cell phone, not one of those magical technological devices which somehow "reroute" or "bounce" the signal, like we're used to seeing. The film largely follows the step-by-step methods Brian uses to track down the people who have his daughter, from one lead to the next.
This is a violent film. Brian shoots, stabs and pummels many people. He also spends time in some of the seedier parts of Paris, so many references to prostitution and drug use are made. It doesn't come across as gratuitous; in fact there is no nudity here where there easily could have been copious nudity. The violence is generally restrained, with no close-ups of bloody carnage, just an old-fashioned blood squib when people get shot. Even the language is far less foul than it could have been. The restraint is valuable and makes for a more watchable and better film.
This is a film where the audience can enjoy watching a good man take out some bad men. It has no real ambition beyond that, and is unequivocal in its support for Brian's methods and aims. I felt the direction was quite good, despite moderate use of the now very tiresome shaky-cam. The action scenes are reasonably well choreographed and are much easier to follow than some recent films (I'm looking at you, Quantum of Solace). The feel is smaller and more intimate than most action films of late, which is refreshing after so many big-scale impersonal blockbusters.
PROS: It's really enjoyable to watch a film every now and then where the good guys are unquestionably good and the bad guys are rotten and evil and deserve to be fought. There seem to be very few films like that in recent years, so apparently it has fallen to the French to make what feels like a quintessentially American film. Taken is well-made and very satisfying, and goes well above and beyond the standard action film by having a big emotional payoff owing to the groundwork well laid in the first part of the film.
CONS: This film is violent and intense. It's not for the squeamish. That's an important point; whatever it says on the banner in the theater this film should not be PG-13. It's far too rough for kids that young.
Final Thought: This is a satisfying and well-made action flick with a compelling lead and surprising emotional depth. Just don't take the younger kids.
Bottom Line: 4/5
Taken does an excellent job where many action movies fail: setting up characters the audience cares about. Shootouts are expected; touching scenes detailing Brian's devotion to his precious daughter are not. Where many films rely on the spectacle of the battles, Taken invests us in the outcome first. Brian is a good man, and we want to see his daughter recognize the good in him that we do. When she's torn away from him, we feel the horror he must feel even as we see all the warmth drain from his eyes as he returns to a job he was very good at.
As action films go, Taken is much smaller in scale and much more plausible than most. The shootouts, fist fights and car chases are not epic in scope, but seem more reasonable. Even a clever trick pulled by Brian to disguise his location consists of taping a walkie-talkie to a cell phone, not one of those magical technological devices which somehow "reroute" or "bounce" the signal, like we're used to seeing. The film largely follows the step-by-step methods Brian uses to track down the people who have his daughter, from one lead to the next.
This is a violent film. Brian shoots, stabs and pummels many people. He also spends time in some of the seedier parts of Paris, so many references to prostitution and drug use are made. It doesn't come across as gratuitous; in fact there is no nudity here where there easily could have been copious nudity. The violence is generally restrained, with no close-ups of bloody carnage, just an old-fashioned blood squib when people get shot. Even the language is far less foul than it could have been. The restraint is valuable and makes for a more watchable and better film.
This is a film where the audience can enjoy watching a good man take out some bad men. It has no real ambition beyond that, and is unequivocal in its support for Brian's methods and aims. I felt the direction was quite good, despite moderate use of the now very tiresome shaky-cam. The action scenes are reasonably well choreographed and are much easier to follow than some recent films (I'm looking at you, Quantum of Solace). The feel is smaller and more intimate than most action films of late, which is refreshing after so many big-scale impersonal blockbusters.
PROS: It's really enjoyable to watch a film every now and then where the good guys are unquestionably good and the bad guys are rotten and evil and deserve to be fought. There seem to be very few films like that in recent years, so apparently it has fallen to the French to make what feels like a quintessentially American film. Taken is well-made and very satisfying, and goes well above and beyond the standard action film by having a big emotional payoff owing to the groundwork well laid in the first part of the film.
CONS: This film is violent and intense. It's not for the squeamish. That's an important point; whatever it says on the banner in the theater this film should not be PG-13. It's far too rough for kids that young.
Final Thought: This is a satisfying and well-made action flick with a compelling lead and surprising emotional depth. Just don't take the younger kids.
Bottom Line: 4/5
Having finally seent his movie, I'd have to go with 4/5 in terms of quality, though I strongly discourage people offended by violence or sexual themes from viewing it, as it deals with topics such as sexual trafficking. The content is probably necessary to make the movie compelling, given its rather intense subject matter. We don't make recommendations on ATI: just try to outline the quality of the film, objectively, then discuss the moral ups and down from a Christian perspective. The ultimate decision is for the reader, but Rob is right: this movie is not for younger audiences.
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