TAKEN d: Pierre Morel

by Reginald Williams | | Leave a Comment

Taken (2008)

Direction: Pierre Morel. Screenplay: Luc Besson and Robert Mark Kamen. Cast: Liam Neeson, Maggie Grace, Famke Janssen, Xander Berkeley, Katie Cassidy, Olivier Rabourdin

Taken, directed by Pierre Morel and written by Luc Besson and Robert Mark Kamen, is a remarkably effective action thriller. Liam Neeson stars as Bryan Mills, an ex-CIA agent who quit his job so as to salvage his relationship with his daughter, Kim (Maggie Grace). Bryan had already sacrificed his marriage to his (by now) ex-wife Lenore (Famke Janssen) and doesn’t want to repeat the same mistake.

After Bryan saves a flippant singer from a would-be attacker, he encounters a situation infinitely more dangerous than his CIA assignments. Though hesitant, Bryan allows Kim to go to Paris with her friend Amanda (Katie Cassidy) to visit museums — though they are really going to be following U2 around Europe. Soon after touching down, men break into where Kim and Amanda are staying and kidnap them.

Kim is on the phone with her father as the kidnapping is taking place, thus allowing Bryan to give her advice on how to act during the crisis. This a clear illustration of the expertise and seasoning Bryan possesses. Most parents would become hysterical; Bryan is calm and clear-headed. Because of his directions, Kim is able to give Bryan valuable information about her kidnappers before she is gagged and taken out of the room.

When Bryan arrives in Paris looking for his daughter, no one is safe as he goes on a focused rampage looking for clues and tracking down those involved in the kidnapping. Taken is almost as unforgiving a revenge film as Man on Fire, which has even more brutality, and is as harsh as Marvel’s The Punisher films should be.

When Bryan tortures someone, he doesn’t talk about what he is going to do; he just does it and then asks his questions. It’s not like on television’s Alias or the aforementioned The Punisher where they talk, never really do anything (or cut away when they do), or someone miraculously intervenes at the last second. It’s just Bryan, the person he is torturing, and pain Marv from Sin City could appreciate.

Taken’s fight scenes aren’t thrown in to spice things up; they are perfectly appropriate to the character and the situation he is in. They also speak to his long career and the skills he has acquired, which are alluded to earlier in the film. I was impressed by some of them, but since Luc Besson co-wrote Taken, I should not have been all that surprised. I have heard that these fight scenes are reminiscent of those found in The Bourne Identity series. Since I have only seen the first film in that series (the television version starring Richard Chamberlain is truer to the book), I can’t make a fair comparison. What I can say is that Bryan is one efficient and quick killer with no compunction for blood work.

Pierre Morel’s Taken is a great ride, a thriller that thrills and never lets your attention go for a second. Now, if only other revenge films could take a cue from Taken, the cinema would be a better place.

Note: The views expressed in this article are those of Mr. Williams, and they may not reflect the views of the Alternative Film Guide.

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by Reginald Williams | August 3, 2008 | Filed Under European Cinema, Film Reviews, French Cinema

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