Taken
Rated: PG-13
Runtime: 1 hour, 34 minutes
Directed by: Pierre Morel
Starring:
Liam Neeson - Brian Mills
Maggie Grace - Kim
Famke Janssen - Lenore
Xander Berkeley - Stuart
Leland Orser - Sam
Katie Cassidy - Amanda
If it weren't written and directed by Frenchmen and starring an Irishman, I would site Taken as one of the most jingoistic films to come along in ages. It's essentially 24 but shorter, no moles, and the protagonist doesn't scream at everyone. But those great American lessons are littered throughout the film, a reminder of the values that only America has and no one else does, which is why foreigners have to die.
Bryan Mills (Liam Neeson) is a "preventor", or at least he was. After being a one-man special-ops for most of his daughter's life, he's now committed himself to being the world's greatest dad. Unfortunately, despite the fact that he can break a man in twenty places with his pinky, he cannot contend with his ex-wife's icy glares or that her new husband can buy their daughter Kim (Maggie Grace) a pony. Nothing beats "pony" in terms of winning a daughter's affection. Well, almost nothing. As fate would have it, Kim wants to spend the summer in Europe going to museums and because her parents are saps who fall for her transparent fib and gigantic tears, they let her go. But she's actually going to follow U2 around Europe and not visit museums. Within an hour of landing in Paris, she and her friend are abducted and on their way to being sold into sexual slavery. This is what happens when you lie to your parents and try to see U2. It's a fact.
So Mills, with his "preventor" training, heads to Paris and proceeds to tear the city apart trying to find his daughter. Thankfully, she's still a virgin so he has more time to find her since they fetch a higher price. Mills has an old friend in Paris but he's mostly in the way and we come to discover that government officials in Paris are either ineffectual or corrupt. Maybe if they'd joined Bush's Coalition of the Willing, they'd be man enough to help Bryan get his daughter back through such effective means as torture and car chases.
Taken finds strength in Neeson. It's a very simple formula but when you add kung-fu to a stoic, you get a bad-ass. Unfortunately, the film eventually just becomes repetitive: Neeson goes into a group full of guys, beats them/kills them, grabs a piece of information, and moves on to his next target. Even moves which seem clever, like hiring an Albanian translator, seem roundabout when he has friends on a computer network that know what the bad guys had for breakfast that morning. I appreciate that the film does take the time to have a real first act and show how much Mills cares for his daughter and that she's not some selfish bitch but just a careless teen, but the Dateline-subtext of sexual slavery and the value of virginity feel patronizing and it cheapens Mills' quest. Worst of all, Pierre Morel's direction is bland and uninspired, showcasing none of the kinetics and flair he displayed with his previous film, District B13.
While I hope that Taken signals future action films for Neeson, the material is too silly to feel immediate and the action is too unimaginative to feel exciting. It's not as dumb as 24 but give it another 22 hours it probably would be.
Words by
Matt Goldberg
1.26.09