Product ReviewsTaken (DVD, 2008)

Clear Film

Clear Film. No issue..Very good movie. Sad in real life this happens..And you just have no way to find them.

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Must see although low quality recording

This is a classic. It created a very successful series, but for some reason this one, the first, is not as easy to find in the normal venues such as Netflix, Amazon Prime, etc. The plot is quiet weak, and characters have not a lot of depth but it is okay. I was surprised though by the low quality of the sound and then the image. Not what we are used to see anymore. Read full review...

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Lives up to the hype

Liam Neeson (Schindler's List, Michael Collins & Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace and many more titles) stars as a retired CIA agent in this action packed thriller.

When his daughter Kim, played by Maggie Grace (The Fog, Suburban Girl & The Jane Austen Book Club) is abducted in Paris Neeson springs into action using his former skills to track down the abductors and find his daughter.

Once you get past the introduction of the characters the movie is full of action with car chases, foot chases, hand to hand fighting and much more.

The nearly 57 year old Neeson is not particularly known as an action star but his pulls this role off with flying colors.

The movie carried a lot of hype into it's DVD release and it manages to live up to most of that hype.

I rate this movie a solid 4 of 5 and recommend it for it's good action and drama.Read full review...

Action film that goes back old school

While watching "Taken" I was reminded of several other "Lost Child" films and surprisingly the one which first came to mind was Arnold Schwarzenegger's "Commando." Specifically this movie is what that movie should have been like. Liam Neeson outshines Arnold with a witty and far more sympathetic and charismatic character portrayal.

The film's plot is simple but has enough twists and texture to make it into a fulfilling experience. I could go on and on talking about Neeson but I want to say a few things about this movie. Following path of revenge Besson takes us on a ride that is full of action and the whole story is told in beautiful simplicity. It doesn't present nothing new, but the way the whole movie was filmed, with amazing action scenes (some of them brutal like electricity torture) and great actor in main role, you gotta' be satisfied with final outcome. The film takes many turns and even goes on the verge of moral ambiguity but Neeson's charisma pulls the film through even its more preposterous segments.

And yes, you know that he's going to save everyone but then again Seagal also saves everyone but 95% of his movies are sort of dense. That is the magic of this movie cause Besson didn't present anything new. You just need to have passable script, good, young director, be European and have good actor in main role. All I can say is that you will still be taken by Liam Neeson!Read full review...

T A K E N (DVD, 2009)

Brian is a retired CIA operative. His marriage ended and he has made the commitment not to lose his daughter too. Kim is a very precocious seventeen year old. Brian still thinks about her as a child and is having some problem adjusting. She asks to meet him for lunch, and when he arrives, she hits him with a request for permission to go to Paris with her friend. He doesn't want her to go because he knows how dangerous it is, but her mother pushes him and he is caught in the middle. He reluctantly gives permission with several conditions which are accepted. When they arrive at the airport, he finds out that she and her friend plan to follow the rock group U2 across their European tour. Brian is pissed, but can't do anything about it. Practically as soon as the girls arrive in Paris, they are targeted by Albanian kidnappers who take young women for the sex trade. Kim calls her dad and while she is talking with Brian, the kidnappers come and take Kim and her friend. Brian uses all of his skills and training to track down these people and try to rescue his daughter and her friend. Like a cross between Jason Borne and James Bond, he goes after her. in the process he kills almost everyone in Paris and engages in car and boat chases- Just kidding. It wasn't quite that bad, but the amount of "hero" violence, and the body count is a bit too amazing to believe. He rescues her and gets her home safely. This was a pretty good movie but the action was exaggerated to being unbelievable.Read full review...

THEY TOOK HIS DAUGHTER, HE WILL TAKE THEIR LIVES

Features Actors:Liam Nelson, Maggie Grace,Famke Janssen,Xander Berkeley,Katie Cassidy,Nicolas Giraud
Running Time:93 Min.
Rating:PG-13

Bryan Mills (Liam Neeson) recently retired from a dangerous career as a CIA agent to settle down in California near the person he cares about most, his daughter, Kim (Maggie Grace). Ever since his ex-wife (Famke Janssen) got remarried to a filthy-rich businessman (Xander Berkeley), it seems like Bryan has become of less importance in his little girl's life.
For instance, at her 17th birthday party, his modest gift of a karaoke machine is overshadowed by the horse her step-dad could afford to surprise Kim with. The next day, she informs him for the first time of her impending plans to vacation in Paris with her best friend, Amanda (Katie Cassidy). Aware of the potential dangers which lay in wait for a couple of gullible tourists overseas, Bryan reluctantly signs the parental consent form
after Kim promises to call him everyday on her cell phone.
The naïve teenagers still find trouble as soon as they land at the airport when they unwittingly agree to share a cab with a cute guy named Peter (Nicolas Giraud). After checking into their hotel, Kim calls her father to let him know they've arrived safely. But while they're speaking on the phone, the room is broken into by a gang of Albanian mobsters obviously tipped-off by Peter.
Bryan listens helplessly, collecting clues until the line goes dead, and is calm and collected enough to discern that Kim and Amanda have been kidnapped. He immediately kicks it into high gear, leaving for Europe on the next flight. Once there, he's too impatient to give the police a chance to to crack the case.
Instead, the desperate dad turns vigilante, taking the law into his own hand. Relying on his experience as an international spy, Bryan embarks on a one-man, adrenaline-fueled rampage to track down the creeps before they sell his daughter to sex traders.

This heart-stopping revenge flick written by Luc Besson is easily Liam Neeson's most memorable performance since his Oscar-nominated outing in Schindler's List.Hope this helps you decide.Thanks for reading! :)Read full review...

the best action movie i ever seen

Movie Review: Taken (2008)
Critical Critic: General Disdain | Published on: July 29, 2008 |
Filed under: Action/Adventure, Thriller


Directed By: Pierre Morel

MPAA Rating: PG-13

Starring: Liam Neeson, Maggie Grace, Famke Janssen, Katie Cassidy

IMDB Link: Taken

Movie Trailer: Trailer
There’s a new action star in town and it isn’t anyone you would immediately suspect. Does the name Liam Neeson ring a bell? Yes, the same guys who has primarily played the nondescript role for the majority of his career has found his John McClane as Bryan in the French action, quasi-thriller Taken.

Surprisingly, it isn’t as bad as you may think . . .

Neeson is a retired CIA operative trying to piece together his broken family. After his intense career, his wife Lenore (Famke Janssen) has left him and remarried and he’s all but a stranger to his 17 year-old daughter Kim (Maggie Grace). He finds the only way to reconnect with her and make peace with his ex-wife is to go against his better judgment and allow for Kim to travel to France with her girlfriends. He should have stood his ground though, because shortly after landing in the City of Lights, Kim and her friend are kidnapped by Albanians and sold as sexual playthings to the fabulously rich and the insanely powerful.

What follows next is a nice change of pace (the broken family man shtick gets old quick) as Bryan hauls ass to Paris to begin his hunt for the abductors. He dons his Sherlock Holmes hat and cape, and conducts some impressive detective work (which is sprinkled with some extreme luck). First, he goes to the kidnapping location and gets led to the man responsible for setting the girls up. Next, using his contacts in the French police he makes his way to a sex camp which in turn leads to a holding/drug house which leads to another link in the chain which invariably leads to another link (I don’t want to give it all away). What’s important is at each stop Bryan beats the living shit out of everyone within reach. Some of it is completely far-fetched (fighting a roomful of thugs armed with semi-automatic weapons unarmed) and some of it is pain-wretchingly real (anyone care for some home-brewed electrocution?).

Neeson does an admirable job as Taken’s human battering ram (undoubtedly some of his skill comes from what he learned on the set of Batman Begins). I must say, he carries himself well for a 56 year-old man. His moves are not as precise or as crisp as what I’d expect from the ass-kicking hero, but they’re good enough to get by with. Everyone else in the film is a throwaway napkin. Director Pierre Morel could have switched them around or substituted monkeys in their place without causing much of a problem since, aside from from the beginning of the movie, there is very little interaction between characters. The only thing missing was the wise-cracking remarks that are staples in the “kick ass and ask questions later” type of movie. But while they were notably absent, I can’t say I missed them a whole lot (probably due to the fact that these “witty” one-liners have steadily gotten worse and worse).

So its no Die Hard. So what – nothing is. It’s no James Bond flick either. What Taken is, is a good middle of the road action movie, that is on par with the likes of Seagal’s and Snipe’s finest (i.e., Under Siege and Passenger 57). It also proves to the rest of us (mostly me) that there is more to France than fine wines, croissants and surrender flags.Read full review...

A DVD worth buying!!!

First of all,let me go over what the movie is about. A father who worked for the government retires to get to know his teenage daughter, who is living with her mom and step dad. Its hard for him when his ex-wifes new husband outdoes every present and disregards all of his rules layed down for his daughter, least of all his warnings of the danger involved in allowing two teens to travel overseas unchaparoned. He goes against knowledge of the danger and agrees just to make his daughter happy but the fear for her safety all comes back to him when he finally receives a check in call from his daughter only to find out two men have broken in and are without a doubt going to take his daughter. Through this heartfelt, action packed movie, a father races against the clock of inevitability that if he doesn't find his daughter within the short amount of time alloted, he won't ever find her.....at least not alive.
I thought this movie was excellent!! It is touching and gripping to the very last second. The surprising thing though is my husband who seldom ever can tell you anything about a movie after it is over absolutely loved it as well. And the fact that kidnapping and selling young girls for sex is a very real problem in other countries. It is devastating and most young girls who are abducted are never found or found dead and thier perpetrators are never uncovered.Read full review...

Great movie. Highly entertaining! A real keeper!!!

A great Liam Neeson movie and great role for him. I loved this movie and Mr. Neeson carries the movie pretty much alone. Great action! I've watched this movie several times and it is definitely a keeper for your DVD library. When his daughter faces kidnapping in a foreign country he tells her on the phone that they will take her and he will get her back, and that is what he does. He pulls no stops and shows high intelligence, strength and perseverence. Definitely recommended!! I give it five stars based on Mr. Neeson's performance alone.Read full review...

Thriller

A very enjoyable, captivating movie. Liam Neeson is a great actor with a great plot.

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