Taken, starring Liam Neeson

Taken (2008): starring Liam Neeson, Maggie Grace, Famke Janssen
Taken is the sort of movie that might've once starred Chuck Norris, Sylvester Stallone or Bruce Willis, but as it's 2008, it stars... Liam Neeson? Actually, yes, and he's pretty good in it. Neeson stars as a former ex-secret agent/protector/"problem solver"/"cleaner"/etc., whatever you get the picture. He's an Unstoppable Force. His wife has re-married and her new husband is providing a luxuriant lifestyle for his 17-year old daughter (even buying her a horse for her birthday). When the daughter wants to go to Europe, everyone thinks it's a grand idea, except of course for her real father, who has a bad feeling about the whole thing. But the women ignore the dad, and much like in a Rambo movie, everything that can go wrong, does, and Neeson's character is forced to come out of retirement and rescue his daughter from the sex slave traders who've kidnapped her. Oh, and he's not very subtle about it either, blowing up half of Paris in the process. Taken is a dumb action movie in the vain of the aforementioned Rambo or a little bit like the Mel Gibson movie, "Payback". It's not quite over-the-top action or violence, and hits all the right emotional strings to ignite our indignation (particularily our xenophobic attitudes towards the french). Sure, it's manipulative, but I don't think you can look too deeply into this movie for meaning. I enjoyed "Crank" on a similar level, it's good popcorn fare.
***1/2 out of *****

I really liked Taken. I thought Liam Neeson did a great job in the role. After the first 10 minutes of the movie, it is pretty much non-stop action. I admit that it isn't going to win any Oscars, but it was pretty good for what it was meant to be. Also, it will make you think twice before letting your teenage daughter head off to Europe.