Taken (Single-Disc Extended Edition)

Fast Moving Suspense Well, all props to a suspense-thriller these days which has the nerve to posit an Arab as one of the villains. Heck, that hasn't happened in a mainstream movie in simply ages, not since Ah-nold was only a movie actor and not the Governator of California. So, here is a taut and swift-moving thriller, with a seemingly indestructible hero/family man, single-mindedly boring through Paris like a runaway oil-rig drill, utilizing old contacts, old friends, mad spy skilz and no little willingness to pour on the specialized brutality - in search of his kidnapped daughter. And quell horror, she's been kidnapped by some middle-European baddies involved in what used to be called a white slave ring, which is what they used to call low-life traffickers in women for sex ... a plot that is probably as almost as old as the oldest profession. And Liam Neeson does very well, as the retired black-ops veteran, hoping to reconnect with his teen-aged daughter, even if his ex-wife has married a fabulously wealthy man who can offer the girl everything except rescue, when she and her best friend fly off to Paris for a bit of un-chaperoned adventure. Of all the A-class movie leading male talent, he actually looks rather battered, weathered, as if he has had a life - and a strenuous one at that. He is a man, not a pretty boy dressed up in a man's costume. He is believable as a retired spy; old enough to be experienced, but young enough to be physically believable as an action hero. And while it might not be quite believable that the hero would be allowed to leave France without spending at least a little time answering some fairly serious questions down at police headquarters - "Taken" moves at such a brisk pace that one doesn't even think of such questions until afterward. Rating: 3 (Celia Hayes, 2010-03-20) Taken (Single-Disc Extended Edition) customer review

great action film Liam Neeson proves he can play the action hero as well s anyone in this action thriller.he plays the father of a 17year old who has been kidnapped while in Paris.with very little to go on,he races against time to find her kidnappers and save her.oh,and he has a very particular set of skills.in short,they messed with the wrong guy.what follows are some very intense fight scenes,which are very well choreographed.but this is not just an action movie.there are certainly some dramatic moments and the movie is tinged with sadness,as some of the events in the movie mirror reality.of course being a Hollywood movie,you pretty much know how it will end,although it didn't end completely the way i thought it would.all in all, a very entertaining movie,that also makes you think.for me,Taken is a 4/5 Rating: 4 (falcon, 2010-03-17) Taken (Single-Disc Extended Edition) customer review

Well made action-fantasy flick "Taken" is a well made action flick and also a fantasy of revenge and redemption, starring Liam Neeson as retired CIA operative Bryan Mills. It's the kind of role that Harrison Ford might have done well with 10 or 15 years ago. Neeson is very good, but he doesn't have Ford's humor, and the script is mostly humorless, too. Mills's ex-wife, Lenore (Famke Janssen, Jean Grey in the X-Men franchise), dumped him ostensibly because Mills's CIA work kept him away from home, but she then managed to marry some very rich guy. Mills lives in L.A. to be closer to their teen-aged daughter, Kim. Mills gets his chance to prove his worth -- when everyone else seems worthless -- when Kim, on a trip to Paris with a girlfriend, Amanda, is kidnapped by an Albanian gang that targets young, attractive Western women and, we learn, forces them into prostitution and sexual slavery. Mills tells the kidnappers on the telephone, "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." Through the rest of the movie, Mills makes good on his promise. Along the way, the flick shamelessly panders to American prejudices. I dunno; maybe other people share the same prejudices. The Albanian bad guys seem to be Muslims. The French may be civilized, but they are useless, unprincipled, and corrupt. The most repulsive bad guy is an old, rich, corpulent, lascivious Arab sheik. Another really bad guy is an American businessman. He tells Mills not to take things personally, because selling Kim to the highest bidder was just business. (Maybe this is supposed to sound like when a health insurance company cuts off coverage to a customer who's gotten sick; that's just business, too. Nothing personal.) Mills doesn't reply but shoots the businessman dead. Mills doesn't negotiate or hesitate; he's a pure man of action. He tortures. He kills. He shows no mercy. In one key scene, a bad guy holds a knife to a hostage's throat. He starts to say, "We can nego--", but Mills shoots him in the head. There's nothing erotic in this PG-13 flick, but there are strong sexual themes. Much is made of the fact that Kim is a virgin. Mills at first refuses permission for Kim to go to Europe, which he sees as dangerous and corrupting, but he eventually gives in to the lies and manipulations of his ex-wife, Lenore. Even before the kidnappers show up, we learn he was right to be wary. Kim's friend, Amanda, sees the trip as a sexual adventure for the two of them and nothing at all like the harmless trip to visit Paris museums that Kim and Lenore had described to Mills. This is not spelled out, but Lenore, like Amanda, probably saw the trip as a chance for Kim gain sexual experience. After the kidnapping, Kim's virginity saves her. It makes her a valuable commodity unlike the experienced and hence disposable Amanda. At a subsequent auction of abducted women, Kim is offered as the last and most valuable item because of her "certified purity." Mills's race to save Kim sometimes seems like a race to save her virginity as much as her life. Make of this what you will. Rating: 4 (William J. Mertens, 2010-03-16) Taken (Single-Disc Extended Edition) customer review

This movie should be watched after viewing 13 Tzameti and Hostel 1 The tension will be heightened if you watch Hostel 1 before watching this movie and 13 Tzameti informs the local color of the Parisian underbelly. This is an entertaining as well as useful cautionary tale. Watch it with your high school age children. Rating: 4 (Cleo, 2010-03-14) Taken (Single-Disc Extended Edition) customer review

Enjoyable revenge romp The movie doesn't have a complicated plot or deep, dynamic characters. That said, it's quite a good watch for what it is. It's primarily a revenge thriller and it does that job quite well. The burning need for retribution is an extremely powerful force in the human psyche and this movie plays on that emotion quite effectively. It's not a movie that I want to keep, but I really enjoyed it for an evening watch. Rating: 3 (Bryan Creel, 2010-03-03) Taken (Single-Disc Extended Edition) customer review