Taken [Blu-ray]

great film plenty of action and good actors well worth renting

I had reservations about this film as it has Liam Neeson in the main role as a US Security Op who dealt with preventing problems before they start but due to this job costing him his marriage & missing his one child growing up he retires to enjoy time getting to be a part of his daughter's life.His daughter & her friend get the chance to follow a favourite group around Europe with the first place being Paris so with great hesitation Liam's character lets the daughter go & no sooner has the daughter & her friend landed in Paris they are both abducted by Albanian Sex traffickers.What follows is a Father wanting his daughter back & does shoot,kill anyone who gets in his path.I would like to point out that this type of film has been done time & time again but for some reason this feels more like it draws you in & I think this may be down to the acting talents of Liam as should this movie had been with Steven Seagal in it then it would have been an okay movie but not a good one.The action is non stop & they make a movie with continual action & movement of the story with it never letting up for deep philosophical moments which is a good move as should you have liked the pace of say 24 then you will be avid to seeing this movie.

Most people love it and a few hate it and both sides have valid reasons. Viewed purely as an action movie it does what it says on the tin! If you want to start analysing it as if it was an art house film then, of course, you can find fault because clichés do abound. First off there's the air-headed 17 year old daughter, Kim, doted on by the ex-CIA specialist killing machine played efficiently by Neeson, who's been cast aside by the blinkered, indulgent mother, played by Janssen, for the safer and much richer second husband, Xander Berkeley. Next, Kim decides she wants to do the groupie thing with her equally air-headed mate and troll around Europe after a rock group. Naturally, doting father, who knows the ways of the world, fiercely objects but dumb mum sees no problem with this - after all, you're only young once!The girls reach Paris safely, the first stop on their tour, but fall foul of the most horrible of scams. Enter the East European nasties! This is the bit, of course, that plays in to the most profound of our prejudices about the yellow peril, going back to such pernicious heavies as Dracula himself; the peril from the east! This time, though, it's not Transylvania getting the bad press but the Albanian mafia, trafficking young white women for prostitution, and Kim and her mate fit the bill nicely. Dad duly brushes the dust from his skill set and proceeds to track down the kidnappers killing, with apparent impunity, anything and everything in his way.So what's the problem? The action is handled brilliantly and, whilst the inevitable fight scenes do stretch the boundaries of probability, the baddies well and truly get their just deserts. Just think about this: if your daughter was snatched and sold into slavery to be the sex toy for some rich sheik and you were a CIA trained killing machine with powerful financial resources available to you would you let anything stand in your way to rescue her? Of course not! So the premise is fine: the baddies have to come from somewhere so why not let Albania have its turn; there have been plenty of nasty Brits - think, Die hard? And as for the many improbabilities - it's fiction for crying out loud: albeit fiction, which has, unfortunately, echoes of the sometimes, very, very unpleasant real world. Perhaps some people need reminding of this.

A classic of its genre.

Liam Neeson's naive daughter is kidnapped by an Albanian prostitution ring in Paris. Already a hefty part of the potential audience are in FRANTIC mode (one of their worst fears coming to pass). But Neeson has all the skills from being a CIA operative to give the bad guys a lesson in Michael Winner style vengeance. This permits the story to crack along at X Files rates without departing from a sense of the possible. Because the writers (who include Luc Besson) have given our hero considerable skills they also periodically lop-off the avenues of investigation leaving you wondering how he'll get out of this one. At the action level the film cannot be faulted for its sheer pace and careful thought (they've consulted someone who knows his business). Some may blanch at the torture and the body count (north of 70), but to lots of folks it will be a massive escapist release. Neeson plays the Bruce Willis role (the man who protects children) to a T, and makes one think of the real victims of the real trade and their parents waiting for a word from the daughter who is a nanny in Italy, they hope....Intelligent plotting, exciting action, high body count; kewl

A retired CIA agent travels across Europe and relies on his old skills to save his estranged daughter, who has been kidnapped while on a trip to Paris.Taken is a great action packed thriller that will not disappoint you. The action leaves you at the edge of your seat and gives you that rush! and it just never stop. It's a huge thrill ride that leaves you eager and makes your heartbeat. A simple but good idea executed well by the director. It does more then enough to keep you entertained. It get's very intense and thrilling at times too. A movie with intense non-stop action through out. What more could you want?Liam Neeson does superbly in his role as an ex-spy, who is professionally trained to kill, that goes save his daughter Kim (Maggie Grace) after she is kidnapped (taken). The length of the film could be longer but it's still a decent amount of time as the action never stops. If your looking for a really fast paced action packed, you can do much worse than Taken.