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A great storyline and really keeps you interested all the way through! If you like Action Thrillers then you'll enjoy Taken!
Characters and Performances
The performaces by the actors in the film are great, they can't be faulted at all. There's nothing particularly excellent to talk ... Read review
Steven Spielberg's alien abduction opusTakenis what happens when you cross-breedClose ... more
Encounters of the Third KindwithThe Waltons. Obviously flushed with the success of the TV mini-seriesBand of Brothers, Spielberg's Dreamworks studio has created an equally epic 10-part story chronicling 50 years of habitual abduction over several generations of three American families.Beginning with the most notorious alien cover-up in US history, the 1947 "crash" at Roswell, New Mexico,Takenintroduces the "Greys" and the families they routinely abduct, probe and, in a couple of cases, impregnate over the course of the ten hour-and-a-half-long episodes. The three families are: the Keys, from which first Russell, then his son Jessie, then grandson Danny, are all abducted; the Clarkes, who are descended from a liaison between lonely put-upon housewife Sally Clarke and one of the Roswell crash survivors; and the Crawfords, the ruthless G-men who are committed to uncovering the purpose behind the alien visitations at any cost.But even though the Greys' actions are at best ambiguous and at worst hostile,Takenis basically a soap opera, lacking the sinister undercurrent of eitherDark SkiesorThe X-Filesdespite its science-fiction trappings. Nevertheless, this is an engaging series which has decent performances--most notably Joel Gretsch as psychotic Owen Crawford--special effects and an engaging enough storyline to make it entertaining, if somewhat disposable, TV. --Kristen Bowditch
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Produced by Steven Spielberg this epic saga weaves together the stories of three families ... more
over multiple generations and their crucial roles in the history of alien abductions. Set against the backdrop of actual historical events 'Taken' creates an evocative tale of mankind's encounters with extra-terrestrials.
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Thriller - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Timothy West, Neil Morrissey, Tara Fitzgerald, Annette Crosbie, Pauline Quirke, Rob Brydon, Denise Van Outen, John Thomson, Kevin Whately, David Suchet
Production Year: 2002 - Thriller - Director: Bharat Nalluri, Rob Bailey, Andy Wilson - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Matthew MacFadyen, Keeley Hawes, David Oyelowo, Peter Firth, Jenny Agutter, Lisa Faulkner
Advantages: Good acting, great storyline! Disadvantages: None,
We watched this film with my mum, dad and husband when they had it recorded on Sky Plus and nothing was on tv (once again it was a Wednesday night and it was just football which was on!!!!). As I have said before when writing reviews on these types of films, I've never been a big fan of films with guns and gangsters, they bore me most of the time, but this Thriller is actually quite good!
== Plot ==
When ex CIA agent Bryan's 17 year old daughter Kim wants to go to Paris with her best friend from school, her dad is apprehensive, whilst her laid back mum (and Bryans ex wife), is fine with it, pressuring him into signing the papers to allow her out of the country. As an ex CIA agent, he knows the dangers ... more
We watched this film with my mum, dad and husband when they had it recorded on Sky Plus and nothing was on tv (once again it was a Wednesday night and it was just football which was on!!!!). As I have said before when writing reviews on these types of films, I've never been a big fan of films with guns and gangsters, they bore me most of the time, but this Thriller is actually quite good!
Details
Directed By- Pierre Morel
Release Date- 26 September 2008
Genre- Action/Thriller
Certification- 15 (UK)
Runtime- 93 minutes
Starring- Liam Neeson Maggie Grace
Plot
When ex CIA agent Bryan's 17 year old daughter Kim wants to go to Paris with her best friend from school, her dad is apprehensive, whilst her laid back mum (and Bryans ex wife), is fine with it, pressuring him into signing the papers to allow her out of the country. As an ex CIA agent, he knows the dangers of the world, and knows the trouble 17 year old girls can get caught up in. But he eventually relents to keep his daughter happy, the reason he left his job, the reason he moved from him home to be near her. It's not long though until he finds out that his daughter is not really going to Paris but following U2's concert around Europe, although her mother knows this, they have all lied to Bryan, but it's too late to say no now...they're about to check-in.
Of course the two pretty young girls end up meeting a young man at Paris Charles de Gaule airport, who offers to share a cab with them to a family apartment in Paris, where they're going to be staying alone. Telling this stranger all about this, and agreeing he will pick them up on their floor at 8 that night for a party.
With Bryan trying to call his daughter after hearing nothing since her landing, and Kim dancing around the apartment to the music without a care in the world, she and her friend have no idea what is to come. Eventually Kim finds her phone has hundreds of missed calls from her protective father and runs to the bathroom to call him back, where she can see her friend having fun running around and dancing, but as she's on the phone something terrible happens...as she sees a group of men come into the living room and snatch her, hiding in the bathroom on the other side of the building, she tells her father what is happening and he does all he can to keep her calm and set up what he can do beforehand to find out afterwards what happened and who took her.
He goes on a whild chase around Paris searching for the men responsible for taking his daughter from him, using his skills from the CIA to help him along the way, getting caught up in the prositution and drugs ring with gansgters and pimps galore. But will he find his daughter and her friend in one piece, or will the men have done what they want with them and disposed of them accordingly!
Opinion of Story
The story is quite good, but I think it's better to watch than it sounds in principal or than it would be to read in a book, as the action kind of packs it out in the film, whilst the storyline could have been quite boring with the reasoning behind the girl's disappearance coming out very soon into the film, and although we don't really know until the end if she'll be found alive or not, the storyline does develop very quickly, which can make a film very boring, but this one is packed full of action scenes and drama to keep you going right through til the end! I thought the story was great and there wasn't a moment during the film where I thought oh jeez is this film ever going to end like you do with some films. The film starts with Bryan and his friends working Security for a singer at a concert, when she is hit upon by a group of fans, and a fanatic with a knife, Bryan saves her, rushing her to safety and doing some great fighting moves on the guy with the knife. Giving us a quick insight into his type of work he used to do, and gave us the impression he was the type of man you do NOT mess with if you want to come out of it alive.
The film has alot of violence in it, but its't particularly bloody thirsty, just a lot of fighting and gun fire, which I don't usually like, but in this it didn't bother me as it fitted well with the film.
Unlike other films like this there are no romantic qualities to the film, alot of the time there will be an ex husband and wife, who "hate" each other at the start of the film but by the end of it they're back to been wildly in love with each other, but not with this, I liked this aspect of the film, as it was more realistic that Bryan was searching for his daughter and had nothing else on his mind, he couldn't care less about anything but her and getting her home safely.
A great storyline and really keeps you interested all the way through! If you like Action Thrillers then you'll enjoy Taken!
Characters and Performances
The performaces by the actors in the film are great, they can't be faulted at all. There's nothing particularly excellent to talk about, nobody stands out as spectacular but it's all good, and there is nothing bad to talk about either! The fighting scenes with Liam Neeson are great, I'm not sure if he used a stunt double, but it's all great anyway!!
All in All
The film is great, if your a big action thriller you'll love this film.The story line is gripping and exciting,but my husband wasn't a big fan and found it a little boring until around halfway through, when the killing and fighting started. But everyone else in my family enjoyed it, so my husband is probably just a fussy sod!!!
...should do before she is taken - namely hide under the bed, and when they eventually find her, shout as loud as she can any descriptions she can get of the kidnappers. It is quite harrowing how we watch Kinsleys face as he listens to the men drag his daughter from under the bed where she is hiding, knowing there is nothing he can do - she is in Paris, and he is in America. To end this harrowing scene, Kinsley has a few words for the kidnapper who ... ...he will hunt him down and kill him. This sentence is heavy with cold promise that actually sent chills down my spine, but it went perfectly with the story - and his menacing demeanour was a nice contrast to the fact that he was doing all of this to save his daughter.. this is a man that is willing to do anything in his power combined with the skills he has learnt to find his daughter and make the people pay who took her. He is willing to break the ...
burtybookworm 02.01.2009
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Taken (DVD)
Advantages: Suspense, action, drama, people being beaten up left right and centre Disadvantages: Crunch, crack, ouch
'''Crazy'''
I have been back from holiday for just over two weeks now. In true Ryan style I have managed to get myself utterly stressed up to the hilt in those two weeks, almost cancelling out any relaxing effects the sunshine has had on me. I have the remnants of a very poor tan and half a bottle of ouzo in a rather provocative container to show for my efforts. Bah bloody humbug to it all.
The main cause of my stress is my current letting agency ... ...way). Long story short they screwed up big style and now I have just over 20 days to find somewhere new to live with a giant possibility of loosing £450 in the process. How handy considering my Christmas shopping was about to start. Yes, I know I'm organised. It's so if crazy crap like this happens I don't need to worry. Pft. Not worry. Yeah right. In an attempt to relax myself, I decided I should invite the cute guy I've been after since that Jimmy ...
ryanando 29.09.2008
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Taken (DVD)
Advantages: None, unless you're really bored. Disadvantages: A lazy, illogical film
...a relative term but they’ve taken the character in the wrong direction. I can believe that he will be a bit useful and pretty tough but to have him as some supreme fighting machine is ludicrous. It’s like Get Carter, the wrong way round - ‘You’re a big man but you’re out of shape and I do this for a living’ is what all the henchmen should be saying to him except they’re all scrabbling on the floor in their own blood. He has dozens of fights against ... ...scratch until the very end, everybody is dispatched in seconds and the damage is all one way. I mean, even Jason Bourne bleeds sometimes.
The film is technically well made and polished; the locations are good and representative of the world he is fighting through (albeit that they are a bit more Bourne derivative than is strictly necessary) but this is not enough to save it.
This isn’t really a bad film, there are certainly far worse, but it is ...
brereton66 07.09.2009
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Taken (DVD)
Advantages: A brilliant thriller Disadvantages: Doesn't surpass the Bourne films
Taken is a 2008 action/thriller directed by Pierre Morel. It was released 28th September & received mixed reviews from critics, however despite the mixed reviews this did extremely well at the box office, grossing an estimated $190,204,151 on a budget of $19,000,000. The films rated 18 as there are some gritty scenes involved & it runs for approximately 93 minutes. As mentioned earlier this is directed by Pierre Morel. He's worked on films such as: ... ...The main star of Taken is Irishman Liam Neeson, Neeson has starred in numerous blockbusters including: Schindler's List, Star Wars Episode One: The Phantom Menace & Batman Begins. Taken is about Bryan Mills, he's an ex CIA agent who used to work for the government as a 'preventer' he's got many elite skills which make him deadly to any opponent. He's divorced and lives on his own, he's recently retired & moved to be closer to his 17 year old daughter ...
Great_reviewer07 10.03.2009
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Taken (DVD)
Advantages: Great Action, Great Cast Disadvantages: Too Short!
I really wanted to see this film at the cinema but never got around to it. So, I've been been eagerly awaiting its release on DVD for months and months and have only just recently managed to watch it. 'Taken' was written by Robert Mark Kamen and Luc Besson (who was also producer) and was directed by Pierre Morel. It was distributed by 20th Century Fox and Europacorp and was released in 2008. Bryan Mills (Liam Neeson) retired from the CIA so that ... ...(played by Maggie Grace) who lives with Bryan's ex-wife Lenore (Famke Janssen) and her current husband Stuart (Xander Berkeley). Bryan's ex-coleagues from the CIA visit him for a game of cards and offer him some easy money; running security for pop-star Sheerah (Holly Valance). Bryan agrees to take on the job, knowing that he is struggling to compete with Kim's ultra rich step-dad financially. Everything goes to plan until after the concert when ...
dandadda 28.04.2009
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Taken (DVD)
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Advantages: Suprise action hit of the year Disadvantages: Low profile
'Taken', if it was a horse, is what the bookies call a 'steamer', an unfancied nag that flies in the betting as the race nears, its odds collapsing to a really short price just before the off through word-of-mouth, why this movie has lots of reviews on ciao already after not exactly troubling the awards ceremonies. I know it was heavily hyped at the time of its cinema release here, pretty much trailed on Talk Sport every hour I recall, and so cynics like me thinking it was really bad because of that seemingly desperate hype. The last movie hyped that much was Mother-in-Law with Jane Fonda and Jennifer Lopez. I rest my case. But to my surprise its 8 out of 10 rating on Imdb.com, although rather high, reflected the general public view that this is indeed not a bad little action thriller, Liam Neesons first hit for a while and one you guys ...
thedevilinme 11.10.2009 (12.10.2009)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Taken (DVD)
Advantages: Good pace and action, keeps you entertained, good length Disadvantages: It's not about to win any awards.
I'm fairly certain that Taken wound up on our Lovefilm list because I thought it might interest my husband. Maybe I'm making that up. However, I definitely don't think I meant to wind up watching it by myself in my pjs on a Saturday morning. In case you're wondering, I don't suggest this as Saturday morning viewing but it is worth a look.
THE PREMISE
Directed by Pierre Morel, Taken is an action story with heart (a little heart anyway). Bryan Mills (Liam Neeson) is a former government agent whose commitment to the job ruined his marriage and has caused his daughter to grow up largely without him. Hoping to reconnect with his daughter, Kim (Maggie Grace) before it is too late, Mills leaves his job to live near his daughter, ex-wire and her new, very wealthy husband. When Kim, a minor, needs Bryan's permission to travel out ...
Mountainlilly 16.07.2009
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Taken (DVD)
Advantages: Entertaining if you like lots of action and random killing Disadvantages: Poor plot that doesn't add up
Taken is the latest movie starring Liam Neeson. It takes the theme of a father's love for his daughter and an inborn need to protect her from danger. Liam Neeson is the father, Bryan Miller and Maggie Grace plays his daughter, Kim . It quickly becomes apparent that Bryan is separated from his family. He is riddled by guilt due to the fact that his Government job kept him abroad so often that he neglected his wife and child. Desperate to make amends he has given up his job and moved close to his ex wife, her new lover and his daughter.
As his daughter turns seventeen he turns up at her lavish birthday bash to present her with his gift, a karaoke machine - because his daughter always wanted to be a singer. He is overshadowed however by her step father's present - a horse, it seems that he just can't do anything right.
Bryans career ...
micksheff 09.11.2008 (12.11.2008)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Taken (DVD)
Contains strong violence and extended scene of torture
Video Category
Feature Film
Country Of Origin
United States of America
Plot
DISTRICT B13 director Pierre Morel calls the shots for this action-driven thriller. Liam Neeson (KINSEY, MICHAEL COLLINS) stars as a father who takes justice into his own hands when his daughter (Maggie Grace, THE FOG) is kidnapped. TAKEN also stars Famke Janssen (GOLDENEYE, LORD OF ILLUSIONS).
Release details
DVD Region
DVD
Studio(s)
20TH CENTURY FOX HOME ENTERTAINMENT; CINRAM LOGISTICS
Languages
Main Language
English
Subtitle Language
English
Technical information
Special Features
Making-of, Production featurettes
Aspect Ratio
16:9 Anamorphic Wide Screen
Sound
Dolby Digital
Professional reviews
Review
Moves at the speed of a high velocity bullet (The Observer, 16/12/2008)
Pierre Morel’s directing style is ruthlessly efficient (Time Out London, 16/12/2008)
DVD Description
Liam Neeson is an unstoppable force in this adrenaline-fuelled thriller from director Pierre Morel. Bryan (Neeson) has taken early retirement from the CIA in order to live closer to his teenage daughter, Kim (Maggie Grace). Bryan's government work kept him away from Kim for much of her childhood, and he's now trying to make up for lost time. When Kim announces that she's taking a trip to Paris with her friend Amanda (Katie Cassidy), Bryan is apprehensive about her travelling on her own. His worst fear is soon realized, as Kim and Amanda are abducted upon their arrival in France. Bryan immediately springs into action, using his well-honed CIA skills to piece together clues from a single, frantic phone call he received from Kim. He hops a plane to Paris, determined to rescue his daughter before she falls off the grid completely. With some help from his old CIA buddies, he tracks down the kidnappers--an Albanian crime ring known for selling young girls into the sex trade. He quickly takes matters into his own hands, plowing his way through Paris's underworld as the clock ticks down and the bullets fly. His search propels him into the upper echelons of a massive crime ring, putting him closer and closer to his beloved daughter.
Neeson is known for tackling extremely cerebral roles, so it is interesting to see him in full-on action-hero mode. In TAKEN he is no less than a crime-fighting machine--a Bourne/Bond hybrid with a deathly serious baritone. And while he spends most of the film firing Uzis and snapping necks, he still manages to deliver a moving performance as an estranged father fighting for what he loves most in the world. The film undeniably owes a lot to Neeson's acting chops. He manages to raise this rather thinly plotted, deeply violent film a bar above your typical action fare.
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