Taken Review: Don’t Leave It

I really didn’t think I would enjoy Taken. I’d even envisioned the headline I’d give this review (Taken Not Stirring). But then I enjoyed the rare but wonderful feeling of exceeded expectations: I thought I’d be getting a bland drama with a few attempts at suspense and thrills, but was instead treated to a hearty and satisfying action/revenge romp in the tradition of Death Wish and Air Force One. This is the type of movie that’s wholesome and morally grounded enough that your mom might get a kick out of it, but most definitely kickass enough for younger audiences.

Imagine a man with Jason Bourne’s skills, Jack Bauer’s balls, and Liam Neeson’s savoir-faire and you’ve got a good picture of Taken hero Brian Mills. He’s a CIA jack of all trades whose work gets the best of his marriage. It takes his wife leaving him for a rich dude before he realizes the error of his ways, retires, and starts striving to connect with Kim (Lost’s Maggie Grace, a 25 year old looking slightly embarrassed to be playing 17), the daughter he barely knows. A trip to Paris goes sideways when she and a friend are kidnapped by unspeakably skeezy Albanian sex traffickers, but not before she gets the chance to make a desperate phone call to daddy. Brian flies into action with laser focus and the righteous fury of any good parent whose young are threatened. Armed with only a vague description of Kim’s abductors, Brian tracks her through the seediest corners of the City of Lights and he could care less how many dastardly Euro-pimps he kills in the process.

Liam Neeson has never had the opportunity to portray such a traditional action hero, not surprising given his mostly dramatic prestige resume (I’ll conveniently ignore The Haunting), but he takes up the rock em’ sock em’ mantle quite capably and combines top notch martial arts and gunplay with genuine concern and gravitas. Writer Luc Besson has well established himself as a contemporary action sage in the realms of writing, producing, and directing (most notably The Professional and The Fifth Element) and he improves his resume with this tight screenplay that never loses momentum and avoids the garish excess of his Transporter trilogy. And director Pierre Morel, whose only previous feature was the remarkable parkour themed French language actioner B13, proves himself a skilled helmer with a good eye for style and a knowledge of exactly how to make violence exciting and effective without copious gore. Last but far from least, Taken does an admirable job at highlighting the evils of the international sex trade. I know the film’s paranoid vision of charming kidnappers at every airport exit and virgin-raping tycoons on every yacht is over the top, but it’s still nice to see a movie with a social awareness message that doesn’t feel completely forced and arbitrary.

Taken is a most worthy escape from the winter blues and then some; if you’re in the mood for some action, check it out. If your in the mood for some Neeson, check it out. It might spook you into cancelling your European vacation this summer, but in times like these who can complain about saving a few bucks.

For a second opinon, see Cameron’s review!