Taken (Single Disc Extended Edition) DVD Review

Posted by Rick Tym on 05.28.2009

Liam Neeson kicks ass. What more do you need to know? Actually, you should come in and see how this “extended” business fares…



Liam Neeson - Bryan Mills
Maggie Grace - Kim
Famke Janssen - Lenore
Leland Orser - Sam
Radivoje Bukvic - Anton
Mathieu Busson - Undercover agent
Holly Valance - Sheerah
Katie Cassidy -Amanda
Xander Berkeley - Stuart
Nicolas Giraud - Peter
Jon Gries - Casey
Rubens Hyka - Leka
Arben Bajraktaraj - Marko
Camille Japy - Isabelle

Written by Luc Besson and Robert Mark Kamen
Directed by Pierre Morel
Feature Runtime: 93 min.
Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence, disturbing thematic material, sexual content, some drug references and language.
Studio: 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment

The Feature
Taken is an action-packed and extremely watchable film that centers around ex-government agent Bryan Mills (Liam Neeson), who has quit the covert life in order to spend time with his somewhat-estranged seventeen year old daughter Kim (Maggie Grace). The first half hour of the movie gives some insight into all the time lost between father and daughter due to the nature of his work—you know, all those nights away from home that couldn’t be helped because the man in question was busy serving his country. (But he never missed a birthday.) Even though Bryan is world-weary after years of being what he calls a “preventer,” he begrudgingly grants his daughter permission to holiday with a friend to Paris to see the museums. She’s actually planning on following her favorite rock band U2 around the European landscape, but as we all know she doesn’t even get to see the first opening act.

Nope, Kim and her friend are kidnapped by thugs who work for an Armenian mob who intends to hook them on drugs and sell them into slavery. What these guys don’t know is that Bryan Mills has a certain set of skills that he will use to his advantage to find them and kill them. (What a great tagline.) To go too much further into the proceedings would be doing an injustice to those that haven’t seen the film, but I can tell you that Liam Neeson is great as an ass-kicking older guy who seems mild-mannered if just a bit overly protective who will stick big steel spikes into your legs and hook them up to a power source to get the information he wants.

While this is primarily Neeson’s vehicle the other actors play their parts adeptly. Famke Jensen and Xander Berkeley play Kim’s mother and stepfather well enough and Maggie Grace works as the young adult daughter who you feel horrified for during the abduction scene, which is pretty much a 180 from her character of Shannon on Lost. (Well, at least until she hooked up with Sayid.) Additional supporting actors do their part to stand in the way of the one man vengeance and rescue machine that is Neeson’s Mills, and most of them also convincingly fall over after falling prey to his hand-to-hand combat skills or scarily accurate gunslinging.

Because, like I just said, this is Neeson’s movie. Anyone who is a fan of the actor’s work should know that it’s a real treat to when it comes to the consequences; he’ll do anything and everything to get his daughter back. It is an action movie and sometimes you have to let go of the brain’s natural reaction to scene in which the lead character pretends to be a French police officer while speaking with an American accent (that reaction, by the way, would be huh? really?) and don’t worry, because having an actor of Neeson’s caliber allows you to swallow that particular milkshake much more easily. Taken is a fun ride that would not be nearly as enjoyable had someone else been playing the part of Bryan Mills. Seriously. For me, part of the attraction was seeing Liam Neeson kick some ass, and in this regard, Taken does not disappoint.

One thing that does disappoint, however, is this whole “extended edition” schtick they’ve got going on here. Those of you looking for more blood and a few extra cuss words are likely to be disappointed since there’s not much additional footage to be seen here. The theatrical release cut is also on the same disc and there’s simply not much of a discernable difference between the two. But still, like I said, it’s Liam Neeson kicking ass.


Yes, it is.
The Video
Taken is presented in 2.40:1 widescreen format. Everything looks nice and crisp, from daytime street walkabouts and fight sequences to nighttime construction site car chases.

The Audio
Audio format is Dolby Digital 5.1 surround for English language only with subtitles available in English, French or Spanish. The audio track is crisp with consistent volume levels throughout the feature and the soundtrack is appropriately adrenaline-pumping without becoming overwhelming.

The Packaging
Once again the boss man Ashish sent me a promotional copy of a movie, so once again I used the internet to confirm that, per usual, the standard plastic keep case is employed for this DVD release. Menus feature moving images from the film and are easy to navigate.

The Extras
Two Commentaries are available for the extended edition only. The first features director Pierre Monet, cinematographer Michel Abramowicz and car stunt supervisor Michael Julienne, while the second features co-screenwriter Robert Mark Kamen. Both are pretty run-of-the-mill but provide the usual insights that die hard buffs and fans of this film will enjoy.

Le Making Of (18:21) is your standard documentary that features the cast and crew talking each other up real nice. There’s not much revelatory information to be gleaned from it, but it is an enjoyable look at the filming process of Taken.

Avant Premiere (4:36) covers the premiere of the film. Nothing of particular stands out in this four and a half minute feature although it is worth mentioning that the subtitles are quite proper, with English ones for the French-speaking people being interviewed and vice versa. It was also a bit sad to see Neeson attending the premiere with his now-departed wife. I’m sure I’m not alone in hoping he’s doing as well as he can be considering his loss.

Inside Action: Side-By-Side Comparisons(11:04) outlines stunt work and other nifty things like replacing people with dummies before they’re hit by trucks for six scenes: Peter Dies, Bryan Escapes the Construction Site, Good Luck, The Interrogation, Bryan at Saint Clair’s and Boat Fight. This is the kind of stuff that should have been included in that making-of documentary mentioned above, but at least we get to see it here. Pretty interesting action film making details.

Trailers for X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun Li, 12 Rounds and Notorious round out the special features (he said shrugging).

Note: While there is a two-disc extended edition available, that will only get you a digital copy of the feature film in its “extended” format. So if you don’t need a spare for your laptop or iPod, I’d steer clear.

The 411: Taken is an extremely enjoyable action thriller that benefits greatly from the participation of Liam Neeson. The fact that it takes roughly thirty minutes to reach a frenetic pace actually helps the film immensely by giving the audience time to invest in the characters, and once the chase is on the lead actor shows a penchant for ass-kicking only hinted at in his Qui-Gon Jinn days. While the extras are heavy for the single disc extended cut edition, there is not much of particular note among them and the “extended” moniker doesn’t really add much to the proceedings. While the movie is great, this double dip lacks in most areas a bit so let’s go ahead and give it about a…

Final Score:  7.0   [ Good ]