Taken came out right before I went abroad, and man am I glad I didn't see it then because I would have been way paranoid of getting abducted by some Eastern European sex traffickers when I visited Paris. Otherwise, it's a cool movie. Liam Neeson plays Bryan Mills, a retired US government undercover operative who's trying to work his back into the life of his teenage daughter Kim (Maggie Grace). She and her mother Lenore (Famke Janssen) convince him to allow her to visit Paris with her friend for a few weeks, going against his own natural inclination towards paranoia and caution.
When the two friends arrive, they quickly befriend a young man who shares their cab and invites them to a party. As they settle into their lodgings (a house belonging to her friend's cousins), Kim calls her dad to let him know she's all right, but during the course of the phone call, several men break into the house and kidnap the girls. Kim leaves the phone on and screams defining characteristics while Bryan listens, terrified. He launches into action immediately, relying on his French and American government contacts and impressive set of butt-kicking detective skills to find his daughter. It is a pretty violent task, and he kind of destroys Paris in the process.
After hearing many good things from 1416 and Counting, so I was pretty set to enjoy this movie. And I totally did! It's a well-paced and structured action movie with plenty of fighting and cussing and threatening conversations. The filmmakers take a straightforward, no-nonsense approach to badassery, and I can get behind that. It's not dragged-out, it's not trying to trick you with weird backstabbing or big climactic reveals: it's just pure entertainment, so who cares if it's predictable? Liam Neeson seems an unlikely dark action hero, based both on his age and charming demeanor (though I guess there's always Qui-gon Jinn), but he really pulls off the role by keeping Bryan dedicated and grounded in his characterization. Despite the extraordinary situation, he is a realistic- if very intense- guy who just wants his daughter back.
Ok so I know one must indulge in a little suspension of disbelief for movies such as these, but some of the weird loopholes were just too much. It was mostly a combination of a lot of little things that didn't seem to fit into the established story, or weren't fully explained. Was Bryan supposed to be Irish or was Neeson just phoning in an American accent? Does he not speak French (or any other language) despite having been stationed all around the world, and why does he assume every person he meets speaks English? Why don't the Albanian mob members realize this Irish guy speaking English to them is clearly not a French guy working for the French government, as he claims? Why doesn't he look both ways before crossing the street it is so dangerous ohmygod!?!?! These are some examples. Generally they served to make the movie a bit ridiculous, but I was able to eventually just accept everything and revel in the outlandish, but still serious, plot. I mean really all that matters is that Liam Neeson is fighting everyone, and he is totally winning.
4/5
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Taken (2008)
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Great that you liked the movie. Ever since I praised the movie for being a well above average action thriller, a lot of my friends have been accusing me of having stopped watching & appreciating good, serious movies :)
ReplyDeleteLike we say it: "Give credit where credit is due." Although I didn't give it the same rating as you did, I still found the movie really entertaining mostly because of Neeson physical performance. However, you raise a good point when you write that the film is mostly in English when Neeson could have done some efforts to speak French or any other languages.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed this film. Even with the standard "You took my daughter and now I am going to kill you" plot line, Liam Neeson was an excellent choice. Because this role is a sizable deviation from his other roles, he really allowed himself to let go through his character. While his voice maintained the same collected inflection as in all of his other work, he nonetheless performed admirably.
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