I just saw Taken last night and it was great! What a breath of fresh air after all of these overly serious dramatic films released this Oscar season (although most are very good and worth watching). Taken stars Liam Neeson in what I believe is his first major role in an action film. But seeing the film you would think he has been an amazing action star his whole career. Taken is directed by Pierre Morel of District B13 previously. Essentially he makes films because he is a talented director but he is also very good friends with the writer of the film Luc Besson, who is an outstanding and pretty well known French director of films such as La Femme Nikita and Leon: The Professional. The action is unstopping and relentless and you are rooting for Liam Neesons character Bryan all the way on his search for his daughter. Sure the plot has some holes and its pretty far fetched in general but this movie hasn't been made to pull at your heart strings like The Reader its made to blow your fucking brains out!(and that is exactly what Liam Neeson does to a couple hundred people). There is a well directed chase sequence through a construction site, some really great firefights, and outstanding hand to hand combat. But again I will warn you that this movies plot is nothing new or special, but the action and Liam Neesons performance make it worth watching at least twice. I watched it for the second time today after I downloaded the Extended Harder Cut which European countries gave an R rating over the U.S. cut which is PG-13. It really just adds to the action and is more violent but only clocks in at about 3 extra minutes of footage spread out over quite a few scenes.
Overall, I would probably give this movie a 7/10 if I rated it on a normal scale ... but since it is an action film that I feel quiet strongly about and entertained me to the highest level I give Taken a 9/10.
