Taken

Taken

Directed By: Pierre Morel

Written By: Luc Besson, Robert mark Kamen

Produced By: Luc Besson

Cast: Liam Neeson, Maggie Grace, Famke Janssen

Plot: A retired CIA operative (Neeson) is trying to repair his broken relationship with his daughter (Grace). When he allows her to go travelling in France with a friend, they are both kidnapped by Albanian Sex Traffickers. He sets out to find them, and kill them.

Liam Neeson is simply astounding in this role which sees him essentially, as an over protective father. He shoots first and asks questions later. Which shows the true desperation that this man has to retrieve his daughter. He puts himself through so much, and sacrifices his health, and almost his life, even though this looks like a gritty action flick, this is something so much more. If we break the whole film down, basically, this man is trying to repair a very fragile relationship. He is attempting the unthinkable to become a father again, he is fighting to be the parent he should've been and is therefore making up for lost time.

The audience is thrust into the action, and goes along with Neeson as he leaps without looking, regardless of the consequences, and what happens is, we watch him deal with those consequences, dealing with them with lethal force and heroic actions. Most action flicks are mindless, with no control over all the madness and with no character development whatsoever. But in the first thirty minutes or so, we see Neeson's character attempting to become the father he should've been, which shows how emotional the film really is, but honestly, this is a revenge picture.

Maggie Grace's limited screen time was slightly disappointing, she spends what little time she has on screen crying and screaming, which is an anti-cliax from an actress with such great potential. There have been rumours for a sequel entitled "Taken II", I strongly feel, that this a bad move on the production team's part, the first film is brilliant, with a fantastic atmosphere and emotion, I feel that a sequel would ruin that.

Eammon Jacobs