Former government operative Bryan Mills begins the longest 96-hours of his life and the hunt for the fearsome organization that has taken his daughter Kim. Mills had only recently given up his government career as what he calls a “preventer” to be near Kim, who lives with Bryan’s ex-wife Lenore and her new husband. To make ends meet, Bryan joins some former colleagues for special security details (like guarding a pop diva), but most of his time and energy are spent re-connecting with Kim. Bryan’s familial goal is nearly derailed when Kim requests his permission to spend time in Paris with a friend. All too aware of the dangers that could lie ahead for Kim in a foreign land, Bryan says no, but Kim’s disappointment leads him to very reluctantly relent. Bryan’s worst fears are realized when Kim and her friend Amanda are suddenly abducted in broad daylight from the Paris apartment at which they’ve just arrived. Moments before Kim is dragged away by the as yet unseen and unknown assailants, she manages to phone Bryan, who begins to expertly piece together clues that will take him to the darkness of Paris underworld, and to the City of Light’s plushest mansions. He will face nightmares worse than anything he experienced in black ops and let nothing and no one stop him from saving his daughter.

Taken is actually a pretty fun movie. It doesn’t make you think, it doesn’t have a lot of drama (sure you are supposed to be moved a little by the fact that Liam Neeson’s daughter has been taken but that’s not really the point of the movie), it doesn’t have a lot of mystery all the movie is doing is trying to entertain you and be a great way to pass ninety minutes of your time. What the movie is and all its trying to be is an action packed suspense thriller that glues you to your seat and is a lot of fun to watch. You know that Liam Neeson is going to track down the people who took his daughter, you know he is going to get his vengeance and revenge that he seeks, there is no surprise there the fun is how he gets his vengeance. The fun is watching a man committed to get that vengeance, a man who will stop at nothing to get it.

Taken reminded me a lot of the old 1960’s and 1970’s caper and crime movies. There is not a lot of plot or story as everything is simplified but that doesn’t make the movie any less entertaining maybe more so in fact. Its not about the end result, the end result is already known its about the chase and getting to that end result. It’s how it gets done, how the movie unfolds the means don’t always justify the end but in this case they do. Everything is black and white, the bad guys are evil and there is no middle ground for any of the characters. Sure Bryan Mills is a little bit of a gray character but in this case he is the good guy and he is just trying to rescue his daughter. So you can just sit back and you know who is the good guys and you know who the bad guys are and you can’t wait to see them get their come uppings.

Sure the movie mixes in a few subplots like the underworld of crime where girls are snatched off the streets and sold into prostitution and drugs and how our police forces aren’t doing anything nor are capable of doing anything. I am sure you can make a whole movie about these subplots and maybe some people wanted to see that with this movie but that wasn’t the point of this movie. Taken is a simple story of point A to point B and is a thriller action adventure that is sheer popcorn fun.

I love Liam Neeson in the lead role of Bryan Mills as he kind of an underrated actor. He doesn’t get the big roles but every role he is in he brings his A game. He was perfect for this role as he is believable as the once hard former agent who would go on a relentless and brutal journey to get his daughter back. His character isn’t deep it is just a father who loves his daughter and who spent years as an agent and him bringing those skills to a forefront to take the fight to the bad guys. He is like and Urban Rambo, a quite bad ass that you wouldn’t expect to be so fearsome and Liam Neeson brings that character to life. There is really no one else of noteworthiness in the film as this film is all about Liam Neeson and most of the other characters are clichés or very paper thin. But Neeson pulls the movie off and makes it very fun and entertaining.

Grade: B