Taken (Blu-ray)

If there is one genre of film that is a guilty pleasure for me it is the revenge thriller. I love an ultra violet film about a wronged man getting his own back. 'Death Wish' and 'Man on Fire' are great examples. The key to a good revenge thriller is to make the hero seem so wronged that you will allow them to do absolutely anything. These people (invariably men, but see 'The Brave One' for a female take) are channelling their grief into anger and their anger into gut wrenching violence. Are these films intelligent, moral or wise? No, they are out and out action films that allow the viewer 90 minutes of fantasy were they feel they can put to right all the wrongs ...  Read the complete review

"I don't know who you are. I don't know what you want. If you are looking for ransom, I can tell you I don't have money. But what I do have are a very particular set of skills; skills I have acquired over a very long career. Skills that make me a nightmare for people like you. If you let my daughter go now, that'll be the end of it. I will not look for you, I will not pursue you. But if you don't, I will look for you, I will find you, and I will kill you." And so is the basis for Taken, a violent thriller set in Paris for that little bit of va va voom. Liam Neeson plays Bryan, a former spy who has taken early retirement in order to be near to his ...  Read the complete review

I was a bit suspect of this movie when it came out since it 's critical reception was lukewarm. However, when I picked up the blu-ray I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised. This film is very much in the Bourne league. The basic story is that Neeson plays an ex CIA agent whose daughter from his broken marriage goes missing while on a trip to Paris with a friend. The movie is gripping action from start to finish and Neeson gives a wonderful performance. To watch this on blu-ray is to watch the movie in the finest quality and teh transfer and sound are both outstanding. There was, however, one thing that let the movie down for me ...  Read the complete review

This film was a very pleasant surprise! I ended choosing this film just to make up the numbers on my lovefilm list, and I'd heard a few good things about it, but I had no idea I'd enjoy so much. The film starts off at a steady pace and plods along whilst we get to know the family and the main characters, the usual kind of thing. Straight away you start to make assumptions and begin to predict what will happen, and needless to say I thought it was going to be very predictable - but I was wrong! Once the 'taking' takes place, this film goes in to top gear and the pace just changes completely - it's pretty much all action from here on ...  Read the complete review

From where i come from there was a lot of hype for this movie, it really did look incredible on the adverts. However, when i watched the adverts, i had the impression the people who 'took' his daughter where part of a huge conspiracy of some sort from a high government organization but only turned out to be some people who take girls to use for prostitution which was very disappointing for me. It looked like a really deep thriller. I think the director had the chance to make an epic movie out of this with a great plot with lots of twists and turns which it did not have. I would have been happier if there were a few more scenes with conversation to deepen the plot a ...  Read the complete review