Review of Taken (2008) By Mike

Title: Taken (2008)

Original UK Release Date: 26^th September 2008

Original US Release Date: 30^th January 2009

UK Rating: 15

US Rating: PG-13

Director: Pierre Morel

Genre: Action, Thriller

Plot: When his daughter Kim (Maggie Grace) goes missing in Paris, Bryan Mills (Liam Neeson) travels there to find her and is thrown into a deadly hunt.


Mike's Review

I saw the trailer for this film a few months before its release. I can’t remember looking forward to a film so much from just seeing the trailer. The Trailer set the film up perfectly. By the time I finally got to see it, my expectations were so high I knew I would be disappointed. Wow was I wrong.

            The film starts off well, good introductions to the key characters. Bryan’s daughter manipulating her parents into allowing her to go the Paris with her friend. She makes the promise to call at regular intervals. A promise that is broken almost immediately. Her father, played excellently by Liam Neeson, finally gets to speak to her on the phone. During this time the house she is staying in is broken into and she sees her friend being attacked. She lets her father know what is happening. He tells her to hide under the bed. Then, shockingly he tells her that she will be taken. His prediction is right and after she is taken one of the abductors finds the phone and hears her father telling them that he will find them and kill them. The abductor wishes him luck and hangs up the phone.

This is also the main part of the trailer. What grabbed me was the way Neeson spoke to the abductor. You would expect panic and anger, but no. He speaks to him in the calmest voice you will ever hear. This tone is frightening. You totally believe that this man will carry out his threat. And he does so with such style and believability. You find out he has Special Forces training and he puts them to use in dispatching everyone in his way. But unlike classic action films, the way he does it I found to be very believable. Everything he does is calculated and no energy is wasted. There are no crazy drawn out gunfights, no spectacular martial arts fight scenes. What you get is believable, he takes out people in his way quickly and efficiently.

Neeson is perfect in this role, not a typical action star, but he pulls the role off effortlessly. You believe in his character and when the film ended I found myself wanting more. For me this is what movies should be about.

The film is written by Luc Besson, a master in this kind of film.

This film ranks in the top films I have ever seen along with Leon: The Professional also by Luc Besson.

10 out of 10

Additional Information

Stand out performance: Liam Neeson as Bryon Mills

Trailer