Synopsis:
A
former spy relies on his old skills to save his
estranged daughter, who has been forced into the
slave trade.
The Freak's
Rating: B+ : Lliam Neeson is a hard
sell as a tough guy if you ask me. With
some of his notable roles in Schindler's List as
the apathetic Oscar Schindler and Love Actually
as a hopeless romantic, Neeson has a long way to
go to make me fear him in a dark alley. Still, there was a time when he
captured my attention as Darkman, so I gave him
the benefit of the doubt before I headed into
this one.
Taken has an incredibly adhesive storyline,
vengeance.
When a crime is so brutal, so intensely evil and
unthinkable, the audience is submerged into a
deep feeling of rebellion against all things
lawful, letting nothing stand in their
protagonist's path of brutal revenge.
Taken attempts to drown you in this rage, only
letting you up for air during the final couple
scenes.
20th
Century Fox needed pacing for this film,
desperately. If you're going to do an
action picture sporting an aging actor in the
lead role beating the heck out of everyone he
encounters, you need an expert. They
turned to Luc
Besson (The Transporter) and first time director
Pierre Morel. Morel and Besson teamed up
on The Transporter 2 and the chemistry between
the two produces electric action sequences.
Their style
is amazingly present as the film never slows up
once the chase is on.
The
script is semi-solid, with some storylines
making little sense, but that isn't the reason
you buy a ticket to this one. A filmgoer
will plop down his $10-20 to see Taken for pure
escapism and this time you'll get what you pay
for. Mixing in just the right amount of
detective work to keep you guessing along with a
nice dose of violence, Taken is a
fun ride of action that its target audience will
eat right up.
Angie's
Rating: C : I thought this movie was ok...
the script was decent, acting was pretty good,
as you can tell I'm just sort of blah about this
movie. I probably wont see it again, unless I
happen to see it on TV when there isn't anything
else on. It's a good filler of time when you're
bored.
Brian's Rating: B
: I watched the uncut version of this on Blu
Ray recently and enjoyed the movie perhaps a
little better than Scott. I looked up what the
"uncut" includes, and I believe it is mostly a
gratuitous torture scene that does little to
make the movie better. It does further frame
his blind single-mindedness for stopping at
absolutely no cost (including ethical) to rescue
his daughter. I can see why it was edited out
due to it also changing your view a bit on the
father. After seeing him kill a guy in such a
way, he becomes significantly less altruistic
after this. Don't get me wrong, its not like he
is a teddy bear before this, but it does change
the dynamic a bit.
As Scott said, its an action movie, and you get
action. You get to see Liam Nissan kicking some
booty, and like many action movies you just have
to look past the many stretched story aspects.
None of these story gaps were out of control,
and none of them detracted much from the move
besides the occasional thought of, "Why wouldn't
he just do X instead of the Y that I see him
doing?". The movie doesn't let you dwell on
these moments as the plot is inexorably
advancing onward.
I got what I expected, and enjoyed it. Its a
good break from all the oscarish type movies
that have made their way to the top of my queue
recently.
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