Taken (DVD)

What a surprisingly engrossing movie this turned out to be. I was not expecting much going into it, and I wasn't sure what to make of 57-year-old Liam Neeson in an action movie. But boy oh boy, he certainly manages to pull it off and then some.

Neeson plays an ex-CIA agent who is on the trail of a ruthless gang of Albanians who have kidnapped his daughter in France. Once there though, he won't allow anything or anyone to stand in his way, as he tears half of Paris to shreds in order to locate the men responsible.

While the plot is basically revenge-driven, it all works because the hero is so determined and focused on the goal: to find his daughter at any cost. And Neeson plays the character totally straight, no jive quips and one-liners. Just straight machismo burning through this man. A man who has no qualms about shooting someone, no matter who you are.

The action and fight scenes are all filmed in the same vein as the Bourne movies, rapid and fast paced but never headache-inducing. A thrilling piece of entertainment, made even more enjoyable by the fact that the lead actor is a brilliantly surprising choice to headline this feature. Top-notch! (5 out of 5, by Carlisle Johnson)

When his estranged daughter is kidnapped in Paris, a former spy sets out to find her at any cost.

Relying on his special skills, he tracks down the ruthless gang that abducted her and launches a one-man war to bring them to justice and rescue his daughter.

General

Studio:	20th Century Fox
Country of origin:	South Africa
Release date:	October 2008
Actors:	Liam Neeson • Famke Janssen • Maggie Grace
Dimensions:	192 x 137 x 15mm (L x W x T)
Format:
Running time:	1 hour, 33 minutes
Region encoding:	Region 2. This DVD will play in all South African DVD players.
Audio format:	Dolby Digital 5.1
Video format:	Widescreen 16:9 (1.78:1)
Age restriction:	16 NLV
Categories:	DVD > Action DVD > Thriller DVD > Feature Film
LSN:	XTL-3FP-4FH-5
Barcode:	6003805098511

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Taken

Tue, 20 Nov 2012 | Review by: Micky B

<i> Taken <.i> is a French-made action film starring Liam Neeson, and has a lot going for it! A former CIA agent Bryan Mills (Neeson) wants to develop a closer relationship with his teenage daughter Kim (Maggie Grace.) who lives with her mother Lenore (Katie Cassidy) and her wealthy stepfather Stuart (Leland Orser.) For Kim's 17th birthday, Bryan buys her an expensive karaoke machine – only to find that his present is upstaged by that of a horse from her stepfather! While working as security, Bryan saves a pop star Sheerah from a knife-wielding assailant after a concert. Sheerah, grateful, agrees to tutor Kim after Bryan says she aspires to be a singer. At a lunch soon after, Kim asks Bryan for permission to travel to Paris with her older friend Amanda. Bryan is not happy with the concept of the two girls travelling alone, but relents when Lenore complains that he is overprotective after being absent for most of Kim's life. For the rest, its action most of the way – with kidnapping, slavery, prostitution, drugs, human trafficking, and torture by electrocution to keep the pace going when the plot might appear to be slowing down. Actually, the picture is far, far better than the previous paragraph may make it seem. It's an absolute <i>must</i> for the many fans of this genre, and they won't in any way be disappointed.

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