Written by: Luc Besson & Robert Mark Kamen
Starring: Liam Neeson, Maggie Grace, Famke Janssen, Katie Cassidy, Leland Orser, Jon Gries
Rating: [3.5/5]
As their kids get older, parents continually fear for the safety of their children not because of a lack of capability for them to take care of themselves but rather the lack of control to fully protect them. It then makes sense why parents fear when their children go off and travel without them because there’s no telling what could happen and if they remain useless to make a difference. Taken plays on this fear to the extreme as it crafts a nightmare situation but with a parent with more than enough strength to rectify the situation.
Former CIA agent, Bryan (Liam Neeson) worries when his 17-year-old daughter, Kim (Maggie Grace) decides to travel to Europe with her best friend. His fears come true when she gets kidnapped by what appears to be a sex trafficking outlet. He makes his way over to Paris and begins to wreak havoc in order to ensure the safety of his daughter.
Taken utilizes a straightforward plot in how it presents the situation at hand for Bryan. His daughter is missing and he has the necessary skills in order to get her back but he has a time clock in order to get it done before she most likely disappears forever as statistics point out. However, the extremely terrifying aspect of this circumstance makes it even more intense where we know Kim has found herself in a terrible circumstance and as a young woman, if not saved in time, could suffer a truly terrible fate. This feature ultimately represents the vengeful papa bear who will stop at nothing to get his daughter, which does raise some moral questions about the way he navigates the French city.
Part of what makes watching this feature so cathartic, particularly for parents, comes from us watching Liam Neeson absolutely obliterate all of these individuals even tangentially involved with this sex trafficking ring. It allows us to share in the satisfaction of him brutally killing these terrible men. Not many possess the strength of skills Neeson displays in this feature and we can live vicariously through the pain he inflicts. However, the idea of a man coming to a city and absolutely wrecking it for the purpose of finding his daughter does raise some questions. The paternal instinct in anyone could fully justify Neeson’s actions here but, as shown through the feature, Bryan does not necessarily have much discernment when hunting down and taking out anyone he feels bears responsibility for what occurred. While not many would begrudge him utilizing these skills as opposed to going to the police who would be of no help, his outright assault deserve a bit of scrutiny in sheer mass murder he commits and seemingly no one of authority does anything about it does become quite hilarious. This only further proves the fantastical nature of this film but one needed for that sweet catharsis.
Through this journey in trying to get to his daughter, Bryan gets deep into this syndicate in ways showing the depravity of this entire operation. It goes beyond some simple gangsters wishing to make some money but a whole network of individuals who pay for what they want, which happens to be underage girls they can purchase for their own demented ways. Bryan witnesses not only the terrible individuals but the unfortunate victims who suffer at the hands of these men with getting his daughter ultimately serving as the major goal by the end.
As an action film, Taken does struggle with its editing, which only gets much worse in later sequels. The rapid-fire cuts in the fight sequences made famous and far too prominent thereafter from the Bourne films. The use of it makes sense in the context of this film with the age of Liam Neeson and trying to demonstrate some believability to the man could pull off the fighting sequences this feature employs, but it occurs at such a rate that eventually gives someone a headache. It makes the film difficult to watch in moments and therefore takes away the main thing the feature provides, which is that catharsis. The sequences that focus more on Bryan and not these fights make for the more satisfying moments have to offer simply because you can see everything going on.
Very much a power fantasy wrapped into a parent’s nightmare, Taken does well in presenting this horrific circumstance in an entertaining and enthralling manner. While Bryan destroyed half of Paris in search of his daughter, it further enlightens on the horrific sex trafficking rings very much still in existence today. It teaches the lesson to not trust any old stranger when traveling abroad, which makes this feature a Public Service Announcement of sorts.
Films with Josh 
