TAKEN

“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,” Bryan Mills threatens the unknown kidnapper on the other line of his daughter’s cellphone. 

Taken unravels a heartbreaking plot of an ex-CIA specialist, Bryan Mills, who’s daughter has been taken while on vacation in a foreign country. A father’s love lies at the core of this fast pace action thriller. No one will stand in the way of this father from finding his daughter, and punishing those responsible for taking her. French Director Pierre Morel’s Taken unleashes a fearless protagonist with nothing to lose and exploding rage that kills to entertain.

    Liam Neeson plays Bryan Mills, a divorced, retired spy with a set of rare skills. He left his job to live closer to his daughter and make up for lost time. But his ex-wife Lenore (Famke Janssen) isn’t as forgiving as her seventeen-year-old daughter. Her snippy attitude towards Bryan shows she’s still angry about his absence, and is just pretending to be happy in her mansion with her new, rich husband and house full of servants. Just when Bryan thinks his relationship with his daughter is getting better, he realizes she only asked him to lunch to get his signature/permission to spend the summer in France. Knowing the real dangers of the world, Bryan denies his daughter’s request and she runs out in anger. Bryan later shows up at his ex-wife’s house with the signed permission slip, and a list of his own conditions to make sure of her safety.

     Everything seems perfect as the girls dance and scream in their new summer home but, Taken takes a turn for the worst when Kim sees kidnapers taking her friend, Amanda (Katie Cassidy) in the room across from her. The happy screams turn into helpless desperation. On the phone with her father, Kim (Maggie Grace) panics at what she is witnessing and tells her father they are coming for her. Bryan tries to calm his daughter and lets her know he will come for her. And when he does all hell breaks loose.

     Liam Neeson’s acting as Bryan Mills is sincere yet emotionally exhausting. Who could ask for a better father? He stops at nothing and goes on a violent rampage, destroying everything in his way. He commits shocking crimes that seem out of his ethical and law-abiding character. His on-screen father-daughter relationship with Kim, played by Maggie Grace, is highly believable with an obvious sincere connection. Maggie Grace plays his daughter Kim, a spoiled, naive 17-year-old, who is quickly introduced to the many evils that exists in the world. 26-year-old Grace takes on the challenging role of a much younger character and demonstrates strength in her ability to look like and convincingly portray the mindset of a very young and inexperienced teenage.

Taken is only the second film Pierre Morel has directed, as he was previously known for his work as a cinematographer in action/thriller films such as Unleashed and War. Morel’s work seems to concentrate strictly around the action/thriller genre, as the first film he directed was District 13, a French action film also about crime and kidnapping –the similar premise of Taken. With the success of these films, he has grow tremendously in popularity; his next film From Paris With Love stars John Travolta  and is set to premier in 2010. In case your wondering, From Paris With Love is yet again another action/thriller crime movie, but this time he has co-written the script with Luc Besson, who has written all his films thus far. Morel turned out to be an exceptional director because he understands filmmaking from every angle. From cameraman to cinematographer, to direct, to writer –we can expect much more from this promising young filmmaker.

     Writers Luc Besson and Robert Mark Kamen, give this otherwise predictable tale, chilling dialogue that places its audience directly in the action, and unstable mindset of the characters. The protagonist is unpredictable not only in his actions, but also in his threatening dialogue, that becomes more entertaining with every kill. “I believe you, but that’s not going to save you,” Mills informs his unfortunate victim.

    Taken ranks right in between The Brave One and Death Sentence –other revenge films that follow a grief stricken family member avenging the taking of a loved one. In comparison, Taken has a much faster pace and introduces a complex, foreign world never before explored in such a unique fashion. Through this skillfully written drama, we experience a father-daughter relationship transforming in an extremely unfortunate (for them), but intriguing (for us) situation.

    Prepare for war, because Bryan Mills only has 96 hours before he has no chance of ever seeing his daughter again.