Trust no-one! (Taken [2008] (DVD))

Member Name: FairyG

Product:	Taken [2008] (DVD)
Date:	03/10/08 (98 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: An entertaining fast paced action film.

Disadvantages: Liam Neeson?

Liam Neeson plays the role of Bryan, an ex-special agent with a circle of old contacts who want him to join their current lucrative business of bodyguarding the rich and famous. But Bryan has moved nearer his 17 year old daughter Kim (Maggie Grace) who lives with his ex-wife Lenore (Famke Janssen) and her rich new husband Stuart (Xander Berkeley). He's given up the work to keep up his relationship with his daughter, but Bryan finds he can't compete with the lifestyle offered by Lenore and Stuart. He is pressured into agreeing to Kim going on a trip to Paris with a friend, and is at risk of looking like the bad guy if he doesn't give in.

Things all start to go badly wrong when Kim and her friend are kidnapped by human traffickers almost as soon as they arrive. This is where Bryan's special skills are needed. As he tells the kidnapper, he has 'a very particular set of skills that make me a nightmare for people like you.'

Bryan has 96 hours to get his daughter back, after which she will have vanished forever, and the pressure is on for him to find her fast. This is where his contacts are going to come in very useful. It's the start of a frenetic race through the Paris underworld, with a very high kill count.

Liam Neeson at first glance is a bit improbable as Bryan. Promotional posters show him looking hard, moody and dangerous in a leather jacket, but these are clearly airbrushed. In the film, Neeson is showing his age and at first I couldn't help thinking 'Hmm, wouldn't Kiefer Sutherland have been better for this?' But, you know it actually works with Neeson. He's got the suitably battered world-weary look of a man who's been around the block a few times. He's so tall it almost looks possible when he laces into much younger men and pastes the living daylights out of them.

Maggie Grace manages to balance being a nice vulnerable teenager, with the necessary element of spoilt brattishness that leads her into all this trouble in the first place. Famke Janssen always comes across as stunning but manipulative (Nip-Tuck for instance) so really she's just doing her usual thing here. Xander Berkeley as Stuart is quite likeable as the well-meaning guy caught up in this complicated family.

The screenplay is written by Luc Besson, who also did The Fifth Element, Leon and Nikita. He's good at this kind of action adventure and this one doesn't disappoint, although it doesn't quite match up to previous films.

Directed by Pierre Morel, this is a fast-paced film that gets going quickly. It's fascinating to watch how Bryan unravels a trail of evidence beginning with a mobile phone call from his daughter. It's full of action and quite tense in places. On the other hand it's also shocking to see how girls are traded and abused. We know this goes on, and this gives the film a serious edge that should act as a warning to all girls travelling abroad. Trust no-one!

Summary: An entertaining chase through Paris with a warning for girls!