Taken (2009)

The film was still a fun one that will make you laugh and have you leaving the theater feeling like you just stole something valuable and got away with it.

Just intense enough to provide a much-needed diversion, just lightweight enough to make you forget about it soon after it’s over. It’s not exactly “good,” per se, but it does what it sets out to do in terms of putting us on edge, which makes it … successful?

Blistering performances.

The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.

Wow.. this film i would class as a rare perfection. Brilliant fight scenes, car chases and superb acting. I feel Liam Neeson is at his best here. I've always been a big fan of his but here he is definitely at his best. The scenes of gathering information about Bryan Mill's daughter is very well executed. Very clever ways were used in order to extract information and i liked that alot. The only downside i can think of is that its to short and some scenes i think could have been stretched longer to give more actors a chance to show of their characters. Apart from that this is an absolute masterpiece, watch it now!

'Taken' garnered mixed to average reviews critically and still is, looking at the reviews here, a film that divides audiences. Can see both sides, being one who was mixed to moderately liked the film. It is interesting for being one of Liam Neeson's first endeavours as an action hero, and considering that the trailer was an intriguing one and Neeson has always been very watchable and often very good the potential was there.As was said regarding 2011's 'Unknown' recently, 'Taken's' potential wasn't fully lived up to. Enough of 'Taken' does work, or at least to me it did (not everybody will agree and that's fine by me), but also from personal opinion what could have been a pretty good film turned out to be an above average but uneven one that could have done much more with what it had. It entertains and intrigues, but doesn't wow. Really liked the rawness and slickness of the way 'Taken' was shot and edited, and the bleakness and grit of the rest of the production values suited the tone and genre perfectly. It's nicely scored, not intrusive but having presence, and the direction is solid.There is enough taut suspense and fun to keep one gripped and the violence is uncompromisingly brutal and leaves one biting the nails. The sound effects are thrilling in authenticity and will leave one wincing in shock, with it adding hugely to the harrowing effect of the action. Neeson is a very commanding presence on screen and there is energy to the directing.It is a shame though that, excepting Maggie Grace and Famke Janssen, the rest of the cast fail to match him or engage, being largely indifferent. The script also doesn't excite, descending into too much cheese and tedium and tending to lack clarity, subtlety.Despite it being fun, slick, gritty and generally taut, the story is far too predictable and gets far too far-fetched and over-the-top in the latter stages. The violence, while thrilling and well done on its own, tends to overpower the basic drama of the story, so things feel unbalanced. The characters are pretty sketchy.Overall, above average but uneven and more a mixed to moderately liked sort of film. 6/10 Bethany Cox

The acting is awful, the story ridiculous, the editing of Neeson in "action" is amateurish, the fight scenes are laughable....this is a movie barely worth watching once. Took me 9 years to finally get to it, but obviously I didn't miss anything worthwhile. Why this movie made it big (other than the anti-Muslim feelings whipped up globally) and worse, why it's rated 7.8 here, is beyond me. Critics clearly get it right on Rotten Tomatoes, at 58%.

Wow, what a visceral feeling this movie provoked. There was a sense of foreboding when Kim Mills and her friend decided to head off to France, and you know her father Bryan (Liam Neeson rebooted big time) would be getting on the next plane to Paris to sort things out and find Kim.Sure, the movie was violent, but it had a meaning and you knew the bad guys deserved it big time, and Bryan deals it out in spades without any moral reservations. I read that when Liam signed on for this role, he thought it would be a straight to video/DVD release, but he took it on to spend time in Paris and brush up on his mixed martial arts. He does not disappoint, and the box office numbers did not disappoint.Holly Valance plays a key role in the intro and conclusion, and it's good she's doing well in her career. I don't think Holly is related to the late and great Jack Valance.