Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #122 in DVD
• Released on: 2009-02-09
• Rating: Suitable for 18 years and over
• Format: PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• 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

Great entertainment and also horrifying...
There are two sides to this movie - the serious one and the fun one.
The serious is that it tells a story based on things that really happen (the women's fate in this movie). My wife just watching these scenes was so horrified and pissed off in the same time that I haven't seen her like that. The bad characters are 100% bad and you feel great when they are taken care of by the enraged father.
The fun part is that the story is very fluent (not believable but you wish you were this guy with his set of skills to do the job that he is doing).
Another idea of Luc Besson - and a brilliant one.
Liam Neeson - I was disappointed when I saw his name in the leading role. But when I saw him in action...he is 100% convincing and excellent in this role.
Looking for a good action movie that will keep you glued to the screen for 1.5h?! - This is your 100% guaranteed pick.

IF IT MOVES, HIT IT!
Superior action thriller, with an 80's style linear plot but with 90's sensibilties. Really enjoyed this - the action was gritty and on the
whole grounded in reality - and Liam Neeson was more than convincing at the Bourne style hand to hand combat, and firearm handling, as well as playing an essentially hard man role with a strong sense of dignity and morality.
The Paris locations, and Albanian gangs made for an interesting change as well!
Yes, it's predictable but refreshingly free of the usual malaise of trying to be clever & twisty and then dissapearing where the sun don't shine.
It's violent, but perhaps not to the extent of say, Death Sentence, and Liam Neeson does seem to beat/torture/shoot everything that moves!
There are some grim scenes involving the young girls being trafficked that only serve to increase your desire for Neeson to punch even harder or shoot an assailant 5 times rather than 2!

Undeniably efficient albeit grim thriller
Liam Neeson plays the lean hard guy surprisingly well in this efficient if brutal thriller.
He is divorced and has given up his career as a government agent of some description, to be near his 17 year old daughter, who lives with his ex-wife and her new rich husband.
When she is kidnapped on a trip to Paris, all his expertise kicks in to get her back. And really, that is about it - in an era of sophisticated thrillers with labyrinthine plots, the narrative here seems very simple and told in straightforward linear fashion, with few if any surprises.
And yet, it works - because it is lean and fast - the action is brutal and frenetic in close up Bourne style, and once events kick off it really does not let up until the unsurprising conclusion. Neeson is lithe and believable as a trained killing machine, giving the film a huge boost of credibility.
There is it has to be said a mean streak in Neeson's character at odds with the family man, as he mercilessly kills off any and everything that gets in his way. In fact, it becomes almost unpleasant that the film is purporting an American has a right to do whatever he likes in Europe to protect `his own', including torture, on the spot assassinations, and untold collateral damage.
However, watched as a straight action flick, this is entertaining enough, as long as you have a strong stomach for the unpleasant underbelly of Paris dying as faces are smashed into hard objects, bullets shatter limbs, and others die in... well, let's say shocking ways. It's like an urban Rambo invented for a new generation!