I was very taken with this film! (Taken [2008] (DVD))

Member Name: kingfisher111

Product:	Taken [2008] (DVD)
Date:	01/11/09 (156 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: LOts of suspense

Disadvantages: none

Last night, along with eating our takeaway, we watched Taken which my husband had picked up from Sainsburys for only £5.99. I did not know that he was going to buy this, but as I had read a lot of favourable reviews about the film on both Dooyoo and Ciao, I was quite happy with his choice.

The film was made in 2008 and stars Liam Neeson as Bryan Mills, who once was a US spy but has now retired in order to be near his seventeen year old daughter, Kim, who lives with her mother and her mother's new husband. Relationships between the adults are strained particularly when Bryan is not too happy about Kim travelling to Paris with only a teenaged friend. Lenore, Kim's mother, thinks that he is fussing too much and he needs to give his daughter a bit more freedom.

However, Bryan's worst fears are realised when, during a call to Kim, she screams out as she sees her friend Amanda being kidnapped. She is able to give her dad a few clues about the kidnappers though before she is also taken. Before the mobile goes dead, Bryan speaks a few words to the kidnapper and warns him that he is going to find him and get his daughter back. The response is just a simple two words that have a very sinister ring - 'good luck'.

Calling in a lot of favours in order to get information, Bryan discovers that his daughter has very likely been snatched by Albanian traffickers who will likely sell her into prostitution. Bryan has only about ninety six hours before the trail will go cold, so he travels to Paris and sets out to find his daughter singlehandedly. The rest of the film follows his quest as he very cleverly puts together all the pieces and attempts to find his daughter. I can't tell you whether or not he is successful as that would obviously spoil the film, but he definitely does give it his best shot!

I guess in many ways the plot is a bit farfetched with Bryan chasing all of these Albanians down on his own, but it is immensely gripping at the same time. If this was anywhere near real life, with so many people against him, Bryan should really have been shot dead in the first five minutes but then that wouldn't have made much of a film would it? I suppose the fact that he was once a spy does make some of the things that he gets up to a bit more plausible! The film is very fast paced and exciting but also with a plot that is fairly easy to follow. There was perhaps a little bit too much violence for my liking but this is reflected in its 18 rating.

I really liked Liam Neeson's performance in this film. It was a good combination of tough macho spy and caring father. Maggie Grace was very convincing as Kim and although she was not seen for much of the film I really felt for her character when she was so scared. All of the performances were good and there was even a cameo role for Holly Valance who featured as a bit of a diversion from the main tense action.

This film really had it all for me - the tension and suspense of the chase and the family story about what has happened between Bryan and his daughter. I enjoyed the way these two themes were interwoven throughout the film.

Now I have to confess that I have sometimes been known to fall asleep in front of a DVD on a Friday night but that was never going to happen with Taken. It was just too good and had me completely hooked all the way through - it's a great film!

The film is rated 18 and has a running time of 89 minutes. The DVD does contain a few extras too if these interest you. These are:

The making of the film
Six inside action: Side by side comparison segments.

Incidentally the DVD we watched has a headline on the cover that states it is the 'extended harder cut'. I guess this means that perhaps we got more blood and violence than you might get on other versions so that is worth looking out for if you are a bit squeamish. There were at least a couple of times that I had to turn my head away but then I am a bit of a wimp as far as those sorts of things are concerned!

Summary: A graet film to watch