Taken (2008)

"Taken" has a story which has been seen a million times in action movies of the likes of Van Damme, Norris or Seagal. A man's daughter is abducted and he, who coincidence, coincidence, is an ex-spy, kills every living thing in its path until he gets to her. But "Taken" has something that these action movies seldom have, a heart, and good deliverance of the material. This is no ordinary action movie, it's a father in the quest of his girl, and the action derives from there. It's not a mere excuse to present action, as is custom, it's the necessities of the movie and of the story that introduce the action. There is a revenge movie with similar plot which is called "Edge of Darkness" (2010), a masterpiece, but there the psychology of it all slowly unfolded piece by piece until the action finally outbursted in the last act. In "Taken" there is no unfolding, right from square one you know what you are going to get, so maybe the movie fails a little there. Liam Neeson is at the beggining quickly established as an ex-spy who quit his job in order to try to bond with teenage daughter Maggie Grace, who he had "lost" for being always absent. She now lives with his ex-wife Famke Janssen and her new rich husband. An early sequence both shows his fighting skills and his love for the daughter, who really doesn't seem to notice him much, unless to get what she wants. She then goes to Paris on a trip, and Neeson is almost paranoid that something will happen. Maybe this paranoia is too much, and seems forced, but the truth is that really something happens, and she and her friend are kidnapped by a prostitution eastern-european network. So Neeson, with his CSI-martial-arts-gun-fighting-car-driving-furious-rage-skills tracks down and kills all who stand between him and his daughter. The story is simple, but is incredibly gripping, action sequence after action sequence gluing you to the screen. The bad guys are bad guys and treated mercilessly, and Neeson keeps hard and cold, with little flickers of emotion when he gets a new clue that will bring him closer to his goal. Director Pierre Morel presents an action piece with one or two nice little escapades (like the singer Sheerah - although not consistent enough to make a really deep movie), but which is focused in only one goal. The other kidnapped girls don't seem to matter, Neeson leaves them behind. Dismantling the network also doesn't seem to matter. Only his daughter does, and having achieved that home he goes, where strangely he doesn't seem to get that much credit, neither form the wife nor from the daughter. Anyway, not for the award season, but a very very good action flick, with a profound Neeson in an unusual role.