Review: Taken (2009) Liam Neeson
I got hit with Taken’s trailer a lot of times last week, so my wife and I decided to give it a try. So we took a plane to France to see it. For me, I wanted to see Liam Neeson again. Before I saw it, I went on Rotten Tomatoes, and saw a big fat 50% bad rating by the critics. My next step is always to click on RT Community, and I saw an 89% approval rating, so I immediately noticed a disconnect between critics and fans. I also remembered how I liked Neeson in The Haunting, another movie that critics killed.
The plot is simple: Liam Neeson plays a retired government agent (a la Jack Bauer from 24) whose daughter gets kidnapped by Albanians during a trip to Paris, and is sold in the sex slave market. Liam uses his skills to track her down.
The Good
It’s a suspenseful thriller, and turns into an action movie.
The seedy underworld of Paris was entertaining.
The message: listen to your dad, and don’t follow U2 on tour in Europe, because you WILL get kidnapped or killed.
It kept my interest the whole time, and I liked it- the goal of any movie.
The Bad
Just nitpicking here:
The acting- Liam’s ex-wife (Jean Grey from X-Men) is a very frustrating character.
Liam’s daughter- definitely lives in a bubble. I would say both characters are one-dimensional, but I do know white bread like that in real life.
Liam is pretty much invulnerable for the whole movie, and has flawless skills.
The Ugly:
Just nitpicking here:
The female slavery/prostitution and drug scenes were disturbing.
Seeing the serious Liam Neeson as an over-the-top action star was funny. There were some early 90’s cheese present when he kills an infinite # of bodyguards and hired security. Funny cheese, though.
In other words, I think the critics were expecting Slumdog Millionaire because it was made and directed in France, and had Neeson in it. Of course, the plot and trailer should have been a giveaway that it was an action/thriller- I mean a ex-agent’s daughter is kidnapped, and he single-handedly looks for her, and kills everyone that stands in his way- WHAT WERE THE CRITICS EXPECTING?
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“Taken” was fun to watch — Liam Neeson put the beat down on some bad guys
Critics are idiots. The trailer tells you it’s an action movie.
To my surprise it delivered. It was a very entertaining movie with nice action over a thin plot