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Taken: best movie on the planet!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 2010-07-30

Reviewer: mike sully

This movie is amazing and everyone that i know has enjoyed seeing this film. it has a great plot along with suspenseful bloody action. The acting is amazing and everyone should at least rent this movie a couple of times if not buy it.

Great action flick with a purpose 2010-07-26

Reviewer: G. Swift

So many action movies just have spectacular and unrealistic explosions for their own sake. You won't find much of the pointless effects in this one. This one has a story behind it.

Enter Brian, a retired special forces operator who wants only to spend time wiht his daughter, access to whom is blocked by his estranged ex-wife and new husband. While he does his best to ensure she knows he loves her, she is a teenager and is really only concerned with herself. When she lies to him for permission to go to Paris, he reluctantly allows it provided she follow some requirements. She cannot even fulfill the first, which is to call him when the plane lands. While she is an innocent, he has traveled the world trouble-shooting and knows the dangers that await the unwary. Dangers that find his innocent daughter when she is kidnapped to be sold into slavery.

Now, while he had been retired to be close to her, she has not been taken from him. Retirement is postponed. His pursuit is fast, brutal and relentless. The criminals who seek to prevent his recovery get shown no mercy. We see wonderfully choreographed fight scenes, quick and severe as they should be considering the stakes. We get to see the difference between mere thugs and a trained military professional. The criminals don't deserve mercy. Plowing through the seedy underworld of Paris, Brian moves further and further along the chain until he learns where his daughter is being sold.

Overcoming adversity after obstacle after impediment, Brian refuses to give up. The final scenes show this determination come to the fore as he ignores wounds to continue his mission. While some of the gunplay near the end gets a bit extravagant, with automatic weapons being sprayed as stunt performers dive behind furniture somewhat reminiscent of Bruckheimer movies, it is for the most part well-done and not over glorified. It's a dirty business and it's shown that way.

The stunt driving is extraordinary, not as fantastic as Ronin but certainly close to the same league. The story marches on without needless diversions, and while the resolution comes somewhat abruptly, with no bridge between the final act of retribution and the return to the States, it's forgiveable.

While I would have liked Brian to tell his daughter off a bit about why he'd given her the rules in the first place, he's just not an "I told you so" kinda guy. He does what he does, he loves his daughter, and he's forthright about it all.

While this version does give the theatrical and extended versions, there are no other special features. If you need the commentaries and behind the scenes features, you should limit yourself to the two-disc set. If you just want to watch a gritty and well-done action movie with realistic action, characters, and plot, then you should check this out.

Surprise Thriller! 2010-07-20

Reviewer: S. Tyrrell

I love this movie! Who knew Liam Neeson would be SUCH an action star! He's really good and VERY believable. It also has a good story. The action is pretty much non stop. I would definitely recommend this movie. It's a fun movie.

Taken as Two Separate Things 2010-07-17

Reviewer: Michael Griswold

It is my proposition that Taken should be considered as two separate things. For the fan of the action movie genre Liam Nesson plays the ultimate in kick ass bad guy as a former CIA agent who is out to take souls and break lives after his daughter Kim is abducted by Albanian gangster terrorists on a trip to Paris with her friend Amanda. Nesson takes no prisoners and is quite sympathetic in his role as a father battling an incompetent governmental system to save his daughter and there's plenty of bloodshed and bad guys that end up on the wrong end of his gun, along with several edgy car chase scenes. As an action fan, you won't be disappointed with this film.

As someone who has read a great deal of the problem of human trafficking, I was disappointed in the portrayal of human trafficking. Firstly although abductions do occur most domestic trafficking occurs through false job offers. Secondly, its' hard to believe that no one would take notice of an abduction that was that blatant. Furthermore, although the scenes featuring the girls as drug addicts are quite pointed, they felt to me more like an avenue to get to Nesson's character to kick some more ass rather then focus on the actual conditions that trafficked girls face. If I was doing this movie from a trafficking perspective, I would've spent more time focusing on what happens to Kim between abduction and rescue. Not only do you get more powerful visuals, but it would make Nesson's character even more sympathetic because the audience would get a broader view of Amanda's captivity. As a trafficking movie, the movie isn't the greatest at giving a realist view of the phenomenon.

However, if your action movie buff who's looking for a ninety minute killer and are not looking for an expose on human trafficking. You'll enjoy Taken because it doesn't feel like ninety minutes.

A courageous rescue mission 2010-07-17

Reviewer: Sexy Bachelor

5 stars for the fast-paced action minus 1 star for allowing the bad guys to get off so easily. Yes, you read that right. The bad guys got off too easily in this serious movie that tells of a serious real-world subject. Why spend less than 5 minutes of screen time playing with Marko the kidnapper?

Liam Neeson plays a retired CIA officer (Bryan Mills) who single-handedly kicks up a minor storm in France while trying to find his kidnapped daughter. The girl, along with her loser female friend, got kidnapped by human traffickers while preparing to follow U2 band across their European tour. Upon touching down in France, the girls were befriended by a handsome local male. Unknown to them, this guy (Peter) was in league with a human trafficking ring. Suspense and fast-paced action follow that moment on as Bryan Mills tracks down the kidnappers' trails and leaving accidental corpses of bad guys here and there. The crooked French cops don't want to see Mills running loose in the city of Paris, but a man's got to do what he's got to do, especially since the local cops are so useless. Finally after some Steven Segal-type battles, Bryan Mills gets to rescue his daughter and they go back to America safe and sound.

If you like action movies, this Liam Neeson movie can fill your collection.
In a sense, this movie reminds me of "Death Sentence", starring Kevin Bacon.
In "Death Sentence", the cops are also so useless that the victim's father has to find justice on his own.




Recommended viewing:

Rambo - The Complete Collector's Set (First Blood - Ultimate Edition / Rambo - First Blood Part II - Ultimate Edition / Rambo III - Ultimate Edition / John Rambo - Special Edition)

The Punisher (Extended Cut)

Punisher: War Zone (Two-Disc Special Edition)

DEATH WISH

Death Sentence (Unrated Edition)