Toronto – When you go hiking in the mountains, they say, never get between a mother Grizzly and her cubs, for it is then when bears are at the most dangerous. After watching Taken, I would rather get in between a mother Grizzly the size of a bus who can spit venom and its cubs then get in between Liam Neeson and his daughter. Directed by the same guy who brought you the action packed parkour-fu movie Banlieue 13, Taken is an action packed thriller that will have you on the edge of your seat for the entire movie.
Liam Neeson plays Bryan Mills, an ex something whose former job is so dangerous and so deep undercover that he doesn’t even have a name for it. Semi retired, Bryan is trying to rebuild a relationship with his daughter, who he ignored most of his life in service of the country (sounds like Jack Bauer). His ex-wife despises him and yea, his life pretty much sucks at the beginning of the film. His daughter, played by the Maggie Grace (ala Lost) wants to embark on one of those whirlwind tours of Europe in the summer, following U2 around as they tour for whatever shitty album they had put out at the time of filming. I guess in someways, she deserved to be kidnapped. Despite daddy’s objections to the world being a dangerous place, she goes to Paris anyway and after stupidly sharing a cab with a complete stranger, then telling the stranger exactly where she lived, her and her friend get ‘Taken’. If you have seen any television the past week, then you will know the following exchange takes place:
Bryan:
“I don’t know who you are. I don’t know what you want. If you are looking for ransom, I can tell you I don’t have money. But what I do have are a very particular set of skills; skills I have acquired over a very long career. Skills that make me a nightmare for people like you. 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.”
Personally, I think that is a great quote, I mean, who says that? If it was me it would be:
“I don’t know who you are. I don’t know what you want. If you are looking for ransom, I can tell you I don’t have money. But what I do have are a very particular set of skills; skills I have acquired over a very long career. Skills that make me a nightmare for people like you. 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 make you a website!”
Lame, I know.
So off Liam goes to Paris, and as with every movie, the story takes on a much larger arc then just finding his daughter, we are exposed to corruption, slave trades, kidnapping rings – the whole nine yards. This movie should be shown to all parents who have teenage girls backpacking in Europe.
Plot aside, lets get to the reason why this movie is kick-ass. Liam Neeson is pissed in this movie. He wants his daughter back, and nothing will stop him. From the time he arrives in Paris to the time he leaves, he kicks some serious ass. You could tell there is an European film influence in this movie because man, Liam just kills everything in sight in this movie. If Ron Howard was directing this, Liam would have just badly injured his enemies, and then the enemies will look at the errors of the way, and then change his life around. Nope. Liam just kills people to get what he wants, whether it be by fisticuffs (fights are very Bourne Identity-esque), guns or cars, Liam kills without mercy, and without remorse.
Taken is just one large adrenaline rush, the pacing is tremendous (it is only 96 minutes) and the action is tense. Liam Neeson wears his frown through out the movie and you really get the feeling he wants his daughter back. You also get the feeling if he didn’t, he would commit genocide on the entire human race. I guess the naysayers can say that this movie shows some racial biase towards immigrants (all the bad guys in this movie are immigrants, and not home grown frenchies) but yea, it really doesn’t matter.
if you are looking for an action packed movie, Taken is highly recommended – 4/5
Here is a song by a band from France called ‘College’
