Taken

Taken was released in 2008 and is an action thriller film directed by Pierre Morel, and starring Liam Neeson, Maggie Grace and Xander Berkeley. Neeson plays a former CIA operative named Bryan Mills who searches France for his daughter after she is kidnapped by human traffickers for sexual slavery while travelling in France.

The film grossed more than $226 million. Many media outlets have said that the film was a turning point in Neeson’s career due it being his first major acting role with regards to the action thriller sub genre. 2 sequels to Taken have been released since and neither have come close to the first in terms of impact on the audience.

I am particularly inspired by Taken due to the entirety of the film being based around action. In almost every scene there is something to become excited about. For instance, around the mid way point of the film, Neeson’s character finds out about this man who is tricking girls into getting in his taxi and then asking about directions to their house. Neeson finds him and engages in a fight with him; only for the villain in this scene to be run over by a vehicle.

Secondly, another scene that I was fond of was the idea of having Bryan Mills try and piece together the way that his daughter was taken, alongside him looking for clues like a lock of hair that he finds in a smashed window.

However, I would argue that there are criticisms with this film. For example, the way that even though Neeson’s character has been retired from the spy agency for ages and he is ultimately ageing; he still has incredible ability when it comes to fighting. This made me think that if we want our piece to be as effective as it could potentially be – we need to get the casting right.