Taken (2008)

WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS

Stars: Liam Neeson, Maggie Grace, Famke Janssen, Olivier Rabourdin
Director: Pierre Morel

"I don't know who you are, but if you don't let my daughter go, I will find you. I will kill you." Bryan Mills

Synopsis: A retired CIA agents daughter is kidnapped while on holiday in Paris. He uses all of his skills to find her and bring her home.

I saw the trailer for this film in the cinema before it came out in 2008, and I thought "Meh... Liam Neeson as an action star? Skip this one." But oh my goodness, he does quite a good job! I only bought and watched this film recently, but it's a good one to watch if you want to see the bad guys getting their asses kicked, with the good guys not even breaking a sweat while doing it.

This film focuses on the rather scary (and true) issue of human trafficking. I don't want to give away too much of the story if you haven't seen it yet (if you haven't, stop reading now!)

Kim, (Maggie Grace) and a friend go to Paris to follow U2 on the starting leg of a European tour. They share a taxi with a local from the airport to the apartments where they will be staying. The local turns out to be a spotter, looking for attractive young girls. A quick phone call from the spotter, and ten minutes later, kidnappers break in into the apartment. Kim, on the phone with her father, (Liam Neeson) sees the kidnappers coming. She tells her father, and is told to hide under the bed, leave the phone when she gets dragged out, and to shout out any characteristics of the kidnappers that she can see.  The one of the kidnappers finds the phone.  Neeson, still on the other end, threatens that he will find and kill them, to which the kidnapper replies "Good luck."

The girls are not taken hostage for ransom though - a band of Albanian human traffickers kidnap young women, get them hooked on drugs, and turn them into prostitutes on street corners, or sell them off to the highest bidder.

Liam Neeson finds out who the Albanians are, and is told he has about 72 hours to find her before his daughter disappears forever. He manages to track down the Albanian's to their hideout, and a rollercoaster ride of gunfights, knife fights, fist fights and car chases ensues.

I loved how Liam Neeson's character stays calm throughout the entire film. Even when he is trying to fend off a knife attack from one of the heavies, there is no anger, just cold, calculating glancing blows and counter-blows. He comes across as being believable in his ex-CIA agent role.

I enjoyed the fast paced action, and Liam Neeson's "no holds barred" approach to handling things, or who he upsets (the spineless unhelpful police inspector, played by Olivier Rabourdin, who only wants to put Neeson back on a plane to the United States).

All in all, a good action film, a must see, even if you don't want to own it.

Favourite scene: Liam Neeson posing as a police officer, supposedly shaking down the Albanians for more bribe money, while he is actually sizing them up. "An Albanian friend gave me this message. Could you read it for me please?" 

View the trailer here

My rating: 7/10

Taken should be available from all good DVD retailers.