“If you let my daughter go now, that’ll be the end of it. I will not look for you, I will not pursue you. But if you don’t, I will look for you, I will find you, and I will kill you.” These words are spoken by Bryan Mills (Liam Neeson) to men who have just kidnapped his daughter. “Good luck,” is the reply, then the phone is hung up and Bryan is off to France to save his daughter.When the movie opens, Bryan is living in an apartment, retired from the CIA and divorced from his wife, who has remarried to a rich man. His daughter Kim (Maggie Grace) is about to go to Paris with a friend and needs Bryan’s signature to leave the country. Despite his worries, he gives in and signs the form.Up until Kim gets taken the whole movie is ironic with a lot of foreshadowing. Kim and her mom keep saying how she’ll be fine there and nothing will happen, yet we as the audience know that she will NOT be fine and lots of stuff WILL happen.When she gets taken and Bryan gets the aforementioned phone call, his CIA friends tell him that he has 96 hours to retrieve his daughter before she gets sold and sent away to god knows where. Thus begins Bryan’s tirade across Paris looking for the people responsible. Luc Besson penned the storyline for this movie. Besson’s credits include the Transporter series, The Fifth Element, and my personal favorite, The Professional. While watching Taken, you really want Bryan to find his daughter safe and sound. Every time something bad happens or tension is present, you can feel it.Along with the writing, I’d have to say the action is also fantastic. Car chases and fight scenes remind me heavily of the Bourne trilogy, with quick, brutal and precise takedowns on Bryan’s part. While this seems like a movie of revenge, on a deeper level it’s more of a story of a dad’s love for his daughter and the extent he’ll go too to get her back. From single-handedly taking down Albanian gangs, evading the cops, breaking up prostitution and even shooting a friends wife to get information, Bryan does whatever it takes to get his daughter back. Now you may not want to go and see this because of all the award nominated movies currently playing, but if you enjoy a great action thriller with a fantastic writing, go see this. Really, go see it. Now.
~Jay Johnson
Let me start by saying that I agree with Jay that Taken was a good movie. I found it enjoyable, but I have to admit that I suspended disbelief. Everything in this movie is possible, as long as it happens to somebody like Brian Mills. If I ever tried any of it I would get shot or killed within seconds. Mills (Neeson) goes through the movie getting shot only once and briefly spraining an ankle in last scenes of the movie.The way he does this is by care, and the viewer can assume he acquired this through his long career with the CIA, but care can’t really stop a lucky bullet. I’m not one of those people to whom every little thing in a movie has to be realistic, but Taken asks you to strap realism to a chair and electrocute it.Neeson is what makes this movie, is acting connects and pulls you into his character. He only problem is that sometimes the script writing makes this somewhat difficult. The ending of the movie shows this the most, but I can’t spoil that for you guys.Despite my occasional realism problems with the movie I would still say it’s an incredibly gripping story that kidnaps you and doesn’t let you free until it says so.
~Nick Donofrio, guest writer