If you thought Indiana Jones was getting too up there in years for much action, don't tell Liam Neeson's character Bryan Mills in the action flick Taken. Looking like Jason Bourne with a memory and a few more years of expertise, Bryan spends most of the movie taking down guys a third his age while hardly breaking a sweat.
This movie is mostly action, and that is where the solid performances occur. Don't sweat the uber cheesy beginning and disappointing end; the rest of the film makes up for them in a blaze of punches and bullets. The lame attempts at capturing a father/daughter bond are unbelievable and trying to create tension in the relationship makes Bryan's daughter Kim (Maggie Grace) act out like a 12 year old rather than a 17 year old. But once the story moves out of America and into Paris, the pace is fresher and faster and leaves you in your seat for the remaining hour.
What starts out as a trip through Europe for Kim and her friend Amanda (Katie Cassidy), turns into a race for Bryan to find them before they are lost in a sinister underground world. The slow pace of the beginning gives way to nonstop action by the time Bryan braces Kim for what is about to occur with the terrifying announcement, "They are going to take you."
Bryan then gives the kidnappers a solid warning that if his daughter is not released, he will find them and kill them. They should have taken heed. Unleashed, Bryan is a lethal weapon. We know that he was a former spy, but much more is uncovered about his former job by the sheer expanse of knowledge he has about such things as impromptu IV's and a good dozen different ways to torture and kill.
It is a violent movie, with a lot of uncomfortable scenarios. However, even someone as anti-violence as myself found enjoyment in Bryan's methods of saving the day. It is not always easy to find a movie of pure action escapism in the droll winter months. Do yourself a favor and check this one out.
Bryan then gives the kidnappers a solid warning that if his daughter is not released, he will find them and kill them. They should have taken heed. Unleashed, Bryan is a lethal weapon. We know that he was a former spy, but much more is uncovered about his former job by the sheer expanse of knowledge he has about such things as impromptu IV's and a good dozen different ways to torture and kill.
It is a violent movie, with a lot of uncomfortable scenarios. However, even someone as anti-violence as myself found enjoyment in Bryan's methods of saving the day. It is not always easy to find a movie of pure action escapism in the droll winter months. Do yourself a favor and check this one out.
