Taken

I adore Luc Besson and the fact that he no longer directs does make me a bit sad; luckily he still chooses to write and because of that I have movies like Taken. Taken really is Luc Besson without Besson at the helm.

What is nice about Taken is that it is an amazing action movie, but before the action sets in it manages to set up our characters and our plot so that we actually manage to connect with the main characters before the bone crushing sets in. Taken is everything it promises in its trailer to be.

Bryan is a recently retired government operative who is now living in LA so that he can make up for lost time with his teenage daughter Kim. She is invited to spend time in Paris with a friend; as she is a minor she needs the permission of mother and father to leave the country, reluctantly, pinned into a corner by his ex-wife Lenore, Bryan signs the papers to let Kim go to Paris. He gets Kim on the phone once she arrives to her apartment in Paris and men promptly break in and take Kim and her friend captive. Bryan records the call and has it analyzed by his friends still in the government quickly learning that Kim has been taken by a group that deals in human trading and he has 96 hours before Kim will disappear so far in the inner workings of the sex trade that she can never be found. Like any vengeful father with a set of amazing skills Bryan sets out to Paris to find his daughter and hurt the men responsible.

I feel like Taken is a movie I shouldn’t have enjoyed, but I really did love it. This is a vigilante movie ala Death Wish and Liam Neeson and Pierre Morel create a fantastic action film that really is one of the most enjoyable action films that I’ve seen in recent years.

Director: Pierre Morel
Writers: Luc Besson & Robert Mark Kamen
Amanda: Katie Cassidy
Kim: Maggie Grace
Lenore: Famke Janssen
Bryan: Liam Neeson
Sam: Leland Orser

Bryan: 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.
Marko: Good luck.