Taken (2008)

One of my best films of all time. Apart from they made a second one, this a great movie! Liam Neeson trying to save this daughter, in France, from being sold to the highest bidder. An action packed film with good acting and great fight scenes.

This is a very good action/thriller flick. It currently holds a 7.9 rating at IMDb which it certainly deserves. The few people giving this a 1 or 2 star rating must be disgruntled French people who do not like to see the French government officials portrayed as corrupt bastards (which they often are anyway).

I generally like Liam Neeson so the fact that he is in the movie kind of got the movie off to a good start already. In this movie he plays a real badass, I-kick-the-shit-out-of-anyone-standing-in-my-way, former CIA agent hunting down the despicable low-life that kidnapped his daughter. I really, really liked the role he played in this movie. He makes characters like Bourne look like wussy. Even I was surprised when he actually shot the wife of the corrupt French government bastard to get him to talk. That was just awesome.

The movie is pretty much action all the way. Well, it starts off laying the groundwork for the story and here Liam Neeson is indeed playing a fairly timid father that seems to be a bit out of his depth. Once he gets thrown into his right element he quickly casts of the sheep's fur and reveals the wolf (sabre-toothed) underneath.

This is really a textbook action/thriller movie. A very enjoyable hour and a half indeed.

Daddy knows best — especially when it comes to a mostly untrustworthy cast of Europeans — in this action film. Liam Neeson's performance elevated this from being forgettable. Otherwise, I kind of didn't care.

Probably not good enough to have started the Revenge-Renaissance that it somehow did, but still a pretty entertaining time. _Taken_ does hit a lot of clichés though, and I mean, it starts hitting them right away. We're literally only minutes into the film before we find out that Neeson's lead character is divorced, and his wife has re-married to a decent, rich provider, but one who's bookish and could never take him in a fight, and that the present he got for his daughter is for an interest that she no longer has. But once we get into the action proper, it's pretty great.

_Final rating:★★★ - I liked it. Would personally recommend you give it a go._

Random viewing tonight, just wanted a slick and simple action-thriller and this fit the bill. Liam Neeson kicks ass and can see why his career in this genre really took off. The camera work was probably the biggest drawback (shaky cam), likely trying emulate the Bourne franchise or something. But entertaining flick that doesn't overstay its welcome coming in at around 90-minutes. **4.0/5**