Taken
Cast: Liam Neeson, Maggie Grace, Famke Janssen, Xander Berkeley
Dir: Pierre Morel
Rating: 3/5
There's a change of pace for Liam Neeson in his new movie as he takes on an adrenalin-fuelled action packed role of Bryan Mills in Taken.
Bryan (Neeson) has taken early retirement from the CIA in order to live closer to his teenage daughter, Kim (Maggie Grace). Bryan's government work kept him away from Kim for much of her childhood, and he's now trying to make up for lost time.
When Kim announces that she's taking a trip to Paris with her friend Amanda (Katie Cassidy), Bryan is apprehensive about her travelling on her own.
Bryan’s worst fears are realized when Kim and her friend Amanda are suddenly abducted in broad daylight from the Paris apartment at which they’ve just arrived. Moments before Kim is dragged away by the as yet unseen and unknown assailants, she manages to phone Bryan, who begins to expertly piece together clues that will take him to the darkness of Paris’s underworld.
With some help from his old CIA buddies, he tracks down the kidnappers, an Albanian crime ring known for selling young girls into the sex trade.
He quickly takes matters into his own hands, plowing his way through Paris's underworld as the clock ticks down and the bullets fly. His search propels him into the upper echelons of a massive crime ring, putting him closer and closer to his beloved daughter.
Alright so the snatching American tourists on holiday in Europe isn't exactly a new concept and Taken doesn't reinvent the wheel when it comes to the action drama but the film isn't half bad.
Neeson isn't your first choice for ex-CIA action hero but he really is very good in the lead role as a thinking before acting one man army.
His relationship with daughter Kim, played by Maggie Grace, is quite an interesting one missing most of her childhood through work he retires in a bid to make up for lost time and it's a shame that this relationship isn't explored in more detail.
But it's the love he has for his daughter and the time that he has missed with her that pushes Bryan to find her whatever the cost.
It's a fast paced picture that is very entertaining and rarely pauses for breathe as Bryan finds himself in the underworld of the sex trafficking industry.
Although Neeson receives good support from the rest of the cast Taken really is all about Neeson and it's good to see the actor in a different role and he seems perfectly at home in the action genre.
Taken is released on DVD 9th February
FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw