With Valentine’s Day looming in the near future, Hollywood injects audiences with a much needed shot of testosterone in the form of Liam Neeson in the film “Taken.” “Taken” follows a retired government “preventer” Bryan (Liam Neeson, “Batman Begins”) as he attempts to make up for lost time with his 17-year-old daughter Kim (Maggie Grace, “The Fog”). Kim and her friend Liz’s European vacation turns fatal as a suave conman manages to share a cab to their condo and enters uninvited later that evening. Bryan offers a concise statement to his daughter’s kidnappers: “I will look for you, I will find you and I will kill you.”
A dangerous Albanian sex trafficking group collaborates with the French government. As naive tourists are captured from the airport, they go through the process of being drugged to the point of addiction and forced into prostitution. The remainder of the film follows Bryan’s bloody battle through the sex trafficking business until he tracks down his daughter at a human “auction.” A few bullet wounds later, Bryan takes Kim back to the U.S.
At that point, the film took a dive-bomb to ridiculousness with a cheesy ending involving a pop star and Kim’s dream of stardom. Neeson undoubtedly carries the film without the help of his unimpressive cast mates. While this film offered mediocre action scenes and suspenseful intrigue, the plotline and acting left much to be desired.
“Taken” flashes in and out of testosterone-rich content to tween drama flick. A prime example is the dance session to pop music preceding the violent kidnapping. Kim’s character luckily is not granted much dialogue because she fails to muster much interest with her forgettable personality and flippant naivet?. The intrigue of this film lies in the eerie nature of the sex trafficking business. “Taken” succeeds in capturing the devastation of the women filtered through the process of addiction and desperation. As the camera pans through a warehouse of drugged-up, nearly unresponsive women, the painful reality of forced prostitution adds an element of depth to the otherwise shallow plot.
Neeson’s steely homicidal tendencies conflict with his image as the ideal father as he goes on shooting tangents in the name of saving his daughter from the Albanian sex business. Ethical analysis aside, Neeson’s moments of rage conflict with his deep desire to rekindle a relationship with his teenage daughter, making the tender moments seem laughable.
Viewers must go in to “Taken” with enthusiasm to see Neeson’s scrappy, special operations fighting tactics while expecting little to inspire them in the dialogue. The television trailer highlights the best sequences of dialogue in this film, all of which coincidentally belong to Neeson’s character.
Although “Taken” is set in one of the most beautiful locations in the world, many of the scenes are shot in warehouse environments, negating the importance of the story occurring in France. Arguably the biggest mistake made by this film is the reliance on Neeson’s allure and general inattention paid to any of the other leading characters such as Kim and his ex-wife Lenore. Although “Taken” does not inspire repeat visits to the movie theater, it is far from intolerable (ex: “Final Destination III”). Film connoisseurs would be better served attending “Slumdog Millionaire” for superior plot and action scenes; however, in a pinch, “Taken” serves as a date night possibility, though not ideal as it breaches the potentially uncomfortable topics of prostitution and drug addiction.
2 stars out of 5
