Taken
2008 · Directed by Pierre Morel
Original language: English
- action
- thriller
The story
Bryan Mills, a former government operative, is trying to reconnect with his teenage daughter Kim. After reluctantly agreeing with his ex-wife to let Kim go to Paris on vacation with a friend, his worst nightmare comes true. While on the phone with his daughter shortly after she arrives in Paris, she and her friend are abducted by a gang of human traffickers. Working against the clock, Bryan relies on his extensive training and skills to track down the ruthless gang that abducted her and launch a one-man war to rescue his daughter.
What it’s like
Taken opens on the sheen of a fluorescent-lit Los Angeles house and moves quickly into the cooler, greyer textures of Paris: rain-slick cobbles, overcast boulevards, the bruised blue of nighttime streets lit by sodium lamps and café awnings. Director Pierre Morel shoots mostly handheld and close, so the camera stays tight on Liam Neeson's face and the cramped interiors of cars, apartments and nightclubs, with sudden kinetic bursts during the fights and chases. The score is a propulsive, synth-driven pulse that thins out into near silence during the quieter phone calls. Its vibe is tense, lean and grimly efficient, with a calm center at its core: Neeson's character speaks in flat, measured tones even while the world around him falls apart. Pacing is brisk and rarely lets up, suiting a Friday night watch or a focused evening alone. Emotionally it is driven by a father's protective determination and a steely competence that comes to matter more than the sorrow underneath. Violence is frequent and fast, with brutal hand-to-hand combat and gunfire; sexual content is implied rather than shown, and the human trafficking theme brings real dread rather than gore. It is for people who want a lean, unsentimental thriller with a hard-edged hero.
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