Taken (2008)
Country: FR
Technical: col/2.35:1 93m
Director: Pierre Morel
Cast: Liam Neeson, Maggie Grace, Famke Janssen
Synopsis:
A former CIA 'preventer' swings into action when his daughter is kidnapped by Albanian white slavers while on a trip to Europe.
Review:
This extremely nasty thriller inaugurated the star's middle-aged metier in playing jaw-clenched men under pressure for European directors. The pacing is set from the off via the rapid, almost fussy editing style, the better to flatter our hero's unmatched prowess in the close-quarter combat stakes, and so as not to leave space to question the verisimilitude for one minute of how he came to be possessed of French police ID and various other tricks and gimmicks, not least a backup plan for getting out of the country, and all at a few hours notice! And so Mr Neeson works his way through a cast of East European and Middle Eastern slimeballs at a rate that would make Arnold Schwarzenegger blush, and all so that daughter knows who her real Daddy is and Momma Janssen can register that twinge of regret for not staying married to this dependable guy after all. Gender and political stereotyping of the most reactionary Gallic variety, then, and how the multiplexes cheered their way through two sequels...
Country: FR
Technical: col/2.35:1 93m
Director: Pierre Morel
Cast: Liam Neeson, Maggie Grace, Famke Janssen
Synopsis:
A former CIA 'preventer' swings into action when his daughter is kidnapped by Albanian white slavers while on a trip to Europe.
Review:
This extremely nasty thriller inaugurated the star's middle-aged metier in playing jaw-clenched men under pressure for European directors. The pacing is set from the off via the rapid, almost fussy editing style, the better to flatter our hero's unmatched prowess in the close-quarter combat stakes, and so as not to leave space to question the verisimilitude for one minute of how he came to be possessed of French police ID and various other tricks and gimmicks, not least a backup plan for getting out of the country, and all at a few hours notice! And so Mr Neeson works his way through a cast of East European and Middle Eastern slimeballs at a rate that would make Arnold Schwarzenegger blush, and all so that daughter knows who her real Daddy is and Momma Janssen can register that twinge of regret for not staying married to this dependable guy after all. Gender and political stereotyping of the most reactionary Gallic variety, then, and how the multiplexes cheered their way through two sequels...
Country: FR
Technical: col/2.35:1 93m
Director: Pierre Morel
Cast: Liam Neeson, Maggie Grace, Famke Janssen
Synopsis:
A former CIA 'preventer' swings into action when his daughter is kidnapped by Albanian white slavers while on a trip to Europe.
Review:
This extremely nasty thriller inaugurated the star's middle-aged metier in playing jaw-clenched men under pressure for European directors. The pacing is set from the off via the rapid, almost fussy editing style, the better to flatter our hero's unmatched prowess in the close-quarter combat stakes, and so as not to leave space to question the verisimilitude for one minute of how he came to be possessed of French police ID and various other tricks and gimmicks, not least a backup plan for getting out of the country, and all at a few hours notice! And so Mr Neeson works his way through a cast of East European and Middle Eastern slimeballs at a rate that would make Arnold Schwarzenegger blush, and all so that daughter knows who her real Daddy is and Momma Janssen can register that twinge of regret for not staying married to this dependable guy after all. Gender and political stereotyping of the most reactionary Gallic variety, then, and how the multiplexes cheered their way through two sequels...