Taken Review

Who knew a film with Liam Neeson as a hard-core spy dad would be anything but terrible?
“Taken” is a breath of fresh air in the midst of the drivel which rears its ugly head during the months of January and Febrary (you heard me “The Unborn” and “My Bloody Valentine 3-D.”)
The film follows an ex-CIA agent, Bryan Mills (Neeson), who is estranged from his 17-year-old daughter Kim (Maggie Grace), who lives with Mills’ ex-wife, Lenore (Famke Janssen) and her new husband Stuart (Xander Berkeley).
Kim gets reluctant permission from her father and mother to go out of the country for the summer in Paris.
After the first few moments in Paris Kim receives a phone call from her father.
She then witnesses men entering the room and abducting Amanda. Mills is able to gain critical information about the kidnappers in the final moments after Kim is kidnapped by telling her to shout out everything about them she notices.
Using his contacts in the CIA and the business connections of his ex-wife’s husband, Bryan travels to Paris to find her, informed the kidnappers are sex-slavers and that he has only 96 hours to recover his daughter before she will disappear forever.
The film is as action-packed and suspenseful as one could hope for in a thriller. The film takes off at a fast pace and doesn’t slow down until the end of the film.
Neeson steps up to the plate and delivers a performance which will never again make me doubt him as an action star or a hardcore killer ready to take on any challenge thrown his way.
Normally, I might just enjoy a film and forget about it, but this film makes me want to watch it again with other people so I can talk to them about how much fun it was to watch.
I believe I could enjoy a franchise built around Neeson’s character in “Taken.” I would love to see him go into action with his other CIA buddies in other films.
There are a few downfalls in the film, which every fast-paced thriller must face.
A good thriller must be somewhat believable, but can’t be too realistic because the good guy would almost always be killed the first time he met an opponent, much less taking out five with a kitchen knife.
The believability factor is something to get hung up on if you look too closely at the situation. The movie is meant to deliver a fun time without the trouble of having to exercise brain power.
The film succeeds with flying colors in being enjoyable and fun for anyone who enjoys action or suspense.

Rating: 3 Stars