Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2722 in DVD
• Released on: 2009-02-09
• Rating: Suitable for 18 years and over
• Format: PAL
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .18 pounds
• Running time: 89 minutes

Synopsis
Liam Neeson is an unstoppable force in this adrenaline-fuelled thriller from director Pierre Morel. Bryan (Neeson) has taken early retirement from the CIA in order to live closer to his teenage daughter, Kim (Maggie Grace). Bryan's government work kept him away from Kim for much of her childhood, and he's now trying to make up for lost time. When Kim announces that she's taking a trip to Paris with her friend Amanda (Katie Cassidy), Bryan is apprehensive about her travelling on her own. His worst fear is soon realized, as Kim and Amanda are abducted upon their arrival in France. Bryan immediately springs into action, using his well-honed CIA skills to piece together clues from a single, frantic phone call he received from Kim. He hops a plane to Paris, determined to rescue his daughter before she falls off the grid completely. With some help from his old CIA buddies, he tracks down the kidnappers--an Albanian crime ring known for selling young girls into the sex trade. He quickly takes matters into his own hands, plowing his way through Paris's underworld as the clock ticks down and the bullets fly. His search propels him into the upper echelons of a massive crime ring, putting him closer and closer to his beloved daughter.


Neeson is known for tackling extremely cerebral roles, so it is interesting to see him in full-on action-hero mode. In TAKEN he is no less than a crime-fighting machine--a Bourne/Bond hybrid with a deathly serious baritone. And while he spends most of the film firing Uzis and snapping necks, he still manages to deliver a moving performance as an estranged father fighting for what he loves most in the world. The film undeniably owes a lot to Neeson's acting chops. He manages to raise this rather thinly plotted, deeply violent film a bar above your typical action fare.

Customer Reviews

Fantastic action movie!
Brilliant - 5 Stars - action movie and really supeb blu-ray picture quality.
I am very impressed! Liam Neeson is in his best form. Without doubt "must have" in any blu-ray disc collection.

Taken UK-Disc: Taken UK Blu-ray Disc Languages:

BLU-RAY REGION CODE: B, C

AUDIO:

ENGLISH 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio
ENGLISH DESCRIPTIVE AUDIO
CASTELLANO 5.1 DTS
GERMAN 5.1 DTS (DEUTSCH 5.1 DTS)
ITALIANO 5.1 DTS
RUSSIAN 5.1 DTS

SUBTITLES:

ENGLISH
CASTELLANO
GERMAN (DEUTSCH)
ITALIANO
RUSSIAN

"Try not to make a mess, Bryan"
Well, Bryan makes a lot of mess. That's what he does, you see. Bryan's a former 'covert operative', highly trained at 'preventing' and has seen some action in the Middle East in fighting the Hezbollah among many other factions in other unsettled parts of the world. But now he's retired so that he can spend more time in LA with his 17-year-old daughter, who lives with his ex-wife and her new super-rich husband. Daughter goes to Paris with a girlfriend, they get kidnapped within hours of arriving and Daddy takes it upon himself to get her back, all on his own, against seemingly impossible odds.

This started out as what appeared to be a welcome return to the screens of an intelligent thriller. There aren't enough of those these days and I relished the chance to see a very good actor in a well-scripted, suspense-filled movie. I thought I was on to a winner, but very soon after Bryan arrives in Paris the whole mood and impression of the film changed; the dialogue became next to meaningless (most of what is there is somewhat stereotyped) and it quickly descends - or ascends, you could argue - into a fast, action-packed thriller of a more violent kind. I must admit that it was done well, it satisfied the base human need for retribution but it didn't make me think very much. The pace of the hunt and pursuit across Paris was well choreographed and the violence was uncompromising and bordering on the gratuitous, but once again this did satisfy at a basic revenge-fuelled level. It's just that I had expected something more intellectually challenging given the tasters of the first twenty minutes or so. Instead it quickly transforms itself into a veritable orgy of snapped necks, point-blank shootings and the ubiquitous decapitation to conclude a car-chase. This film is really 25% emotional build-up and 75% pulverisingly violent payback, with Liam Neeson seemingly indestructible in any form of combat regardless of how heavily he is outnumbered. He makes the likes of Bond and Bourne look like members of the local knitting club, very rarely displaying any sign of vulnerability such that it's not long before the viewer knows for sure that Bryan's going to carry out his unlikely objective with little more than minor cuts and bruises, despite leaving a trail of probably 30 or 40 bodies in his wake. Hmmm - maybe 50, come to think about it.

Neeson is nevertheless convincing in the role, while all the others are little more than talking heads or swinging fists with very little acting skill on display. This was also a film notable for some tiresome 'product placements', the most obvious of which were a pair of Audi cars and some Sony electronic equipment. If I were to run through the film again I'm sure I could come up with a list of other brands on display, collectively designed of course to subsidise the cost of making the film.

I went into this film with higher hopes than those that were fulfilled. On reflection, if you liked The Bourne films and possibly Quantum of Solace then you will possibly like this too, but in the end the violence takes precedence over just about everything else. As for the Blu-Ray aspect, I didn't think that this was a film to reap obvious benefits from that and although I haven't seen the standard-definition version I would expect the viewing experience to be very similar.

Not just another 'Bourne'
I was lucky enough to catch this film on Blu Ray recently, and I have to say it is the best film I have seen for quite some time. Neeson, whilst not an obvious choice for this type of film, is outstanding and captures the character effortlessly.

There will naturally be comparisons to the Bourne trilogy, but in my opinion, this film blows them away with it's excellent story line, great action scenes and some brilliant acting.

I've pre-ordered this, and I suggest you do the same. This film is a 'keeper'!