Troublesomely Taken

As I was about to head home after a rather long day, I overheard my co-workers Arthur and Gabe talking about what was showing in theaters. When the topic shifted to fight scenes, it touched upon the films John Wick with Keanu Reeves and Taken starring Liam Neeson.

While the film came out back in 2008, I admit to never watching it. Prior to the Expendables with Sylvester Stallone, et al, the thought of a not-so-young man starring in an action movie wasn’t something that called me to movie theaters.

But after getting resounding endorsements from my two co-workers, I decided to secure a copy of the film to satisfy my curiosity. After watching it, I must admit that these two guys were right on the money.

Story

Liam Neeson plays retired agent Bryan Mills. Wanting to catch up on lost time, he decides to relocate near his daughter Kim, who was played by Maggie Grace. Still being underage, currently resides with his ex-wife Leonore, played by Famke Janssen, and her new husband Stuart, who was played by Xander Berkeley.

Right after turning 17, Kim and her 19-year old friend Amanda jet over to Paris for a vacation without any supervising adults present. A few minutes after they enter their temporary residence, both girls are kidnapped and sold into slavery.

After hearing his only child get kidnapped over the phone, Bryan is given the rare opportunity of speaking with one of her abductors. His warning to let his daughter go falls on deaf ears prompting the father springs in to action.

After contacting some of his former military buddies, Bryan is told that he only has 96 hours to find his daughter or she will be lost forever. Hopping on a chartered jet to Paris, the race to reclaim Kim provides some of the freshest scenes to ever hit the theater.

Character Development

Like many action films before it, Taken starts off by developing its main characters. Having retired from the government where he prevented problems from developing, Bryan now spends his time playing poker and cooking barbecues for his old comrades in arms.

To try and make up for lost time, he moves to California to be closer to his teenage daughter, who still happens to love him. His relationship with Leonore is a whole other story though, as she isn’t exactly warm to his presence.

A few other characters, such as Bryan’s friends and his ex-wife’s husband, are also included. However, since their involvement in finding his daughter was limited, the film did not dwell on them.

Overall, the character development of the good side was nicely done. Each character received just the right amount of screen time to set the stage for the movie.

On the other hand, the screen time was not devoted to the development of the antagonists. Instead of providing separate backgrounds, they were introduced over the span of Kim’s abduction.

Special Effects

On one hand, I did not notice any computer generated effects throughout the movie; if the film contained them, they appear to be far in between and seamlessly done.

On the other hand, effects such as the car chases, car crashes, explosions, and fake blood were predominant. Done the old fashioned way meant that the movements and crashes of the cars followed the laws of physics, including that of gravity. In addition to this, the lighting of the explosions looked real and cast the right shadows for the surroundings. Finally, the fake blood would splatter correctly and drench clothes properly.

Favorite Character

Action movies, as far as I am concerned, are a young man’s domain. The preposterous sight of a middle aged man running marathon-like distances with endless energy and fighting innumerable opponents with apparent invincibility just doesn’t fly with today’s audiences anymore.

[This is what kept me away from the movie.]

Interestingly, the movie tackles this in an interesting manner. Instead of having Bryan in the unlikely situation of having to run marathons, carry tons of weapons, and fight people twice his size, he uses his skills and environment to his advantage.

One example involved a scene of chasing a boat. Instead of running, he decides to hijack a car and barrel down several streets until he is near enough to it.

Another example sees him make use of tight spaces to set up and take down multiple opponents with a minimum amount of movement. Being in a small room meant he didn’t have to sprint or jump around. It also allowed him to use opponents as shields when the bullets started flying.

Remaining cool, maximizing his abilities, and minimizing any weaknesses means that Bryan Mills gets my overwhelming vote for favorite character.

[Oh, it also helped that the fight scenes were very nicely staged.]

On the other side of the spectrum, Famke Janssen’s Leonore had me steaming man. While she wasn’t the scheming over-acting ex-wife, her portrayal of the character had me wishing it was her that got kidnapped instead the daughter.

[Kudos to both actors for getting audiences cheering.]

Favorite Scene

One of the initial scenes has Bryan telling one of his daughter’s kidnappers over the phone that if his daughter isn’t released, Bryan will look for him, find him, and terminate him.

So when Bryan finally finds the man he spoke on the phone, he reminds him about their conversation two days ago before keeping his word. And since this was done in the small tight kitchen, the scene was fast and extremely gratifying. Apart from the hand-to-hand combat in such a tight place, the action spilled into the hallway for close-range shooting.

That’s not to say the rest of the fight scenes paled in comparison because this is one of the few movies where they were all good. As my co-workers Arthur and Gabe mentioned, it was like Steven Segal during his early days.

Final Thoughts

It’s not just the action scenes undertaken by a not-so-young man that made this film worthy of notice. One of the consistent things about it is that none of the antagonists lived very long. And when I say that, they rarely made it past the scene they were in.

[Alright, so maybe Bryan’s old friend made it…]

Another thing that this movie covered is the glaring issue about action heroes never running out of ammunition. In this film, Bryan continuously picks up the weapons of his opponents. Basically, he never runs out of ammunition because the antagonists aren’t around to use what’s left in their magazines anyway.

Cool, calculated, lethal; this is what any father would like to be when one of his children is troublesomely taken. And judging from the positive results from the box office, even the younger generation liked the movie enough to spawn two sequels.

It just goes to show you that age isn’t a barrier in movies. Even a middle aged man can become an action hero, provided he is dropped in a good story and given great fight scenes.

“…what I do have are a very particular set of skills. Skills I have acquired over a very long career. Skills that make me a nightmare for people like you.”
– Bryan Mills