Taken

Taken



Liam Neeson, star of such gritty dramas as Michael Collins, Gangs of New York and, er, Love Actually, attempts to reinvent himself as an action star. Well, in the days of a blonde Bond, why not?

The story centres around an ex-government agent Bryan (Neeson) who is busy trying to rebuild his relationship with estranged daughter Kim (Maggie Grace).He reluctantly allows her to travel to Europe with her friend despite his over-protective (and, as it turns out well-founded) misgivings.
Not long after arriving at her destination, his daughter is kidnapped, shot full of heroin and put on the market as a sex-slave. This pisses Bryan off no end. He gets on the first plane over there and starts killing his way to the top of the food chain.

The action in it is stolen wholesale from the Bourne franchise. With blink and you’ll miss it martial-arts manoeuvres, resulting in broken bones and, more often than not, death. Furious, frenetic shoot-outs with Bryan's bullets killing on every shot. It’s hard not to like.
The gritted teeth, seething one liners are brilliant too. With Bryan catching up with the enemies that once underestimated his force and instantly regretting it.
There’s a great scene that sums up Bryan's determination to find his daughter, where he actually shoots an innocent woman to scare her husband into complying. Anti-heroes usually reserve a code of conduct, but there’s none on show here.

Unfortunately, the action is book ended with the obligatory slushy emotional storyline. The bond between father and daughter is built up over the first twenty minutes in the most embarrassing way possible. Even stooping as low as to include Holly Valance as an iconic pop Diva. Eurgh.

The acting is pretty terrible too. Liam Neeson proves he’s no action man, trying to put on his most gravelled tone, he just comes across as a man with a sore throat. But, he’s by no means the worst. His ex-wife and his daughter share that mantle. Both are aggravatingly two dimensional characters played by actresses sleep walking through their roles. Watch out for how his daughter metamorphosis’s from a drug addled prostitute back to a cookie loving sweetheart in mere seconds.

Verdict 6/10
Thank god for the satisfying action.