Wednesday, April 29, 2009

REVIEW: Taken

*Posted December 31, 2008*

I also had this trailer on the site many months back and just like Frost/Nixon, I was very impressed. Liam Neeson plays a former government agent (a "Preventor") who retired to be closer to his daughter. While he was focused on work, his wife (Jean Grey) left him for a rich guy who spoils the daughter (Shannon from LOST) and is pretty much the perfect stepdad (Neeson buys her a karaoke machine for her 17th birthday, stepdad buys a horse and wins). Too bad for Liam when his daughter asks if she can go to Paris for the summer. Despite him not liking this idea for many reasons, Jean Grey guilts him into agreeing, and off she goes. She is promptly abducted by some bad guys and Neeson is forced to track her down using his special skills. As mediocre as this movie could've been, I LOVED it! Shannon from LOST actually does a good job at portraying a loser 17 year old, and Neeson is a tour de force as the spy who kills everyone in his way to get her back. The movie plays out like one whole season of 24 compressed into a movie. There's something awesome about watching him walk into a room where 8 bad guys have guns, and you know he's going to end up killing all of them, and then he does. He fights like Steven Seagal, thinks like Jack Bauer, BUT ACTS LIKE LIAM NEESON!!! This movie throws out all the psychological baggage that comes with abduction stories (Ransom, Don't Say a Word) and focuses on raw rage. The only two problems I have is that Liam runs like an old man, and guns aimed directly at him never come close to hitting him. I feel guilty for loving this mind numbing popcorn flick a lot more than the intimate softie Wendy and Lucy, but I'm sure you'll all feel the same way too.

B+

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