Taken: Movie Review

"Taken" is a film that has TAKEN the world by surprise. In the U.S. alone, it is the highest-grossing film for this year even beating heavyweights like "Gran Torino" and "Watchmen". Now that just makes us curious on why this is the case. Why? We never even heard of it until we were invited to a movie screening (which we did not have the time to attend to! what a shame!) a day before it was released locally. What is with "Taken" that a supposed forget-about-it film is beating the crap out of everyone else - to think that there are no A star names here! Read on for our verdict if all the hype and madness across the States is valid.

"Taken" stars Liam Neeson as Brian Mills. Brian is an ex-CIA agent that is trying to revive his lost relationship with his only daughter Kim. His wife had already divorced him due to the nature of his previous job and already remarried a rich guy - Kim is living with her mother. Kim had just turned seventeen and wants to go to a European tour but needs the permission of Brian as her real father. Brian approves reluctanly and feels that Kim won't be safe with  her cousin and friends in Paris. After arriving in Paris, Kim and her cousin Amanda are abducted. Kim was able to call Brian and Brian in turn was able to talk to the head abductor. Brian now has only ninety-six hours to retrieve his daughter (and to cause havoc against her abductors to boot) before Kim disappears forever.

Now finally we can move on to our verdict of "Taken". All we could say is it was just surprising, in a good way. Even with our curiosity and the hype building up, the film still delivered the goods in almost all aspects. First and foremost, the plot was well conceived and the story developed in a steady pace that made it more intriguing and enticing. This is not your typical action film guys! This is not that brainless shoot-em-up you expected - this film has substance written all over it. The action was non-stop after the first half of the film and it was actually pretty good. Liam Neeson's character has bad-ass written all over him too - James Bond and Jason Bourne just met their match. Now as for the ugly part, we only have one major problem with this film and that is on Liam Neeson's acting. It feels as if Liam has a hard time talking properly most of the time - it even feels uneasy and awkward for us sometimes when we hear him speak. Also, just one minor quip is that some scenes seem out of place. They do not really contribute much to the overall plot and ending and that just bothers us on some level as well. Anyway, overall, "Taken" will be

 enjoyed by everyone and after watching it, we get why it became a big hit overseas and we do not see any reason why it won't become one here in the Philippines.

Rating: 4 and a half reels

Why you should watch it:

- off-the-rails action

- not your typical action film that lacks depth; pretty well thought out plot and story development

Why you shouldn't watch it:

- Liam Neeson's acting was so-so

- Some of the scenes seem to be out of place