A few years back Matt Damon breathed life into a new action franchise and Jason Bourne become my favourite action hero. Unlike Bond, who always had his gadgets to help him out of a tight spot, Jason had to rely on his quick thinking and combat training to disable his enemies and arm himself. He was the toughest, most resourceful action hero of them all. Three movies later and Jason was still my favourite action star, beating off the likes of Statham and Craig to the coveted spot. A spot he looked likely to hold for some time.
His successor came from an unlikely actor, an actor not known for his all out action movies. It took a French writer and Director to draw him out of his shell, but draw him out they did. Liam Neeson plays the role of Bryan Mills, and ex-CIA Black Ops (retired) and loving (if estranged father) who turns from a mild mannered, polite and respectable has been, to a no holds barred, get in my way and I’ll kill you, man on a mission.
The beauty of the transformation is that as radicle as it is, it is believable. Mills never looses his cool, or control. He stays focussed on the mission at hand – rescuing his daughter from Albanian people traffickers – whilst retaining his humanity as a distraught father. It’s a difficult role to play and Neeson nails it.
It’s a role that we believe because of the quickly established back story, and an incident early in the movie that blows you away the first time you see it – it’s just not what you expected of Neeson – and serves as his tough guy credentials for the rest of the movie.
I’m glad this movie was handled by the French, whilst being filmed as a Hollywood blockbuster. It retains the European ability to tell a story and tell it well, whilst not forgetting that it’s an action movie. Best of all, being a Hollywood blockbuster, it’s filmed in English! The French do have a natural ability to make solid action films, but it’s refreshing to see one in my native tongue – foreign actions movie have a habit of movie too fast at time to keep up with the subtitles.
If Neeson’s role as a tough guy, expertly overseen by Pierre Morel, doesn’t get your adrenaline pumping, you’re probably dead, or asleep. Though how you’d fall asleep in front of Taken is beyond me. It’s definitely one of the top action DVDs of 2009.
Reviewed by: Jonathan Read
Rating: R16 – Contains drug use,violence and sexual references
Released on: March 5th, 2009
Year of Original Release: 2008
Stars: Liam Neeson, Famke Janssen, Maggie Grace, Xander Berkeley, Jon Gries, Leland Orser, David Warshofsky, Holly Valance, Katie Cassidy, Nathan Rippy
Length (Minutes): 92
Media Format: DVD
Aspect Ratio: 1.78 : 1
Languages: English
Director: Morel, Pierre
Studio: 20th Century Fox
