Taken

RATING: B-

There was a time when Liam Neeson wasn't really known as much of an action star. Sure, he could play the role, but he wasn't a go-to guy for it. Probably his most popular role in action film before this film came out was Ra's al Ghul in Batman Begins. And he didn't do a *whole* lot of fighting in it. Not like here. 

Background story. Bryan Mills is a former CIA field operative who retired in order to try and get closer to his teenage daughter Kim (especially seeing as he is divorced). Upon his ex-wife's request, he allows her on a trip to Paris with her best friend and her family. Thanks mostly to her best friend's stupidity, Kim and her friend are... well... taken. Bryan is able to get Kim to leave her phone on before the abduction and get some info on the thief, and issues the famous Liam Neeson threat which has since become popular on the Internet. 

"I don't know who you are. I don't know what you want. If you are looking for ransom, I don't have money. But what I do have are a very particular set of skills. ... Skills that make me a nightmare for people like you. So if you let my daughter go now, that will be the end of it. I will not look for you. I will not pursue you. But if you don't... I will look for you. I will find you... and I will kill you." 

Thus begins the wild ride that teaches us a lesson: never, never, never, never, *never* kidnap the daughter of an ex-CIA operative. It will be very hazardous to your health. 

The path to finding his daughter, though, is a surprisingly dark one. He ends up uncovering a sex trafficking ring (which they manage to depict without explicitness and still get the point across) in the middle of Europe, and finds he has 96 hours before he loses his daughter for good. He thus obliterates everyone in his path; occasionally using ethically questionable methods (namely non-fatally shooting the completely innocent wife of a corrupt French cop in order to get intel). He can hardly be considered a complete hero; closer to a driven antihero than anything who simply wants to save what he cares about most... at *any* cost. 

Despite that, Taken is a pretty enthralling action thriller with plenty of cool fight scenes and action sequences and surprisingly clever/funny dialogue at times. The film also manages to cast a light on the disturbing trafficking occurring in the area (while keeping its PG-13 rating with ease). While it's not necessarily a classic, it's certainly a good popcorn flick that holds up a little better than perhaps would be expected.