Taken Review [2]

Posted by Jeremy Thomas on 02.02.2009

Liam Neeson is not someone you want to mess with...

Directed by: Pierre Morel
Written by: Luc Besson & Robert Mark Kamen

Starring:
Liam Neeson - Bryan Mills
Maggie Grace - Kim Mills
Famke Janssen - Lenore
Xander Berkeley - Stuart
Katie Cassidy - Amanda
Olivier Rabourdin - Jean Claude Pitrel
Leland Orser - Sam
Jon Gries - Casey
David Warshofsky - Bernie
Holly Valance - Sheerah
Nathan Rippy - Victor
Camille Japy - Isabelle Pitrel
Nicolas Giraud - Peter
Gérard Watkins - Saint-Clair



Running Time: 93 minutes
Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence, disturbing thematic material, sexual content, some drug references and language.

Luc Besson is something of an odd contradiction in terms of his work and the way people react to it. He is a filmmaker that draws high praise from certain circles for his work and is often considered to be a well-thought of film auteur and many of his films have enjoyed commercial success as well. When it comes to mainstream critical accolades however, Besson often falls quite short. While some of his films, such as Léon the Professional, The Fifth Element, Unleashed and Subway have garnered praise he has also been behind some films that have received the kinds of scathing reviews saved for hacks like Renny Harlin and Paul W.S. Anderson…the Transporter movies, Taxi and The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc come to mind. Perhaps few filmmakers show the divide between public consensus and mainstream critical appeal better then Besson, who has been cited as a key figure in the French film movement known as Cinéma du look, a filmmaking style that focuses on visual style and themes of emotional isolation. It is into this pedigree that Taken, the new action-thriller starring Liam Neeson and Maggie Grace, is born. Released in France in February of last year, it has made the rounds of various countries before finally now arriving in the United States.

Taken stars Neeson as Bryan Mills, a former operative for the U.S. Government. He has spent years as a “preventer” as he calls it, and in doing so has alienated his family life to the point of separation. His wife Lenore (Janssen) wants nothing to do with him and is now involved with wealthy businessman Stuart (Berkeley); his daughter Kim (Grace) doesn’t really know him well. It is Kim whom Bryan has retired for, moving to Los Angeles to be near his daughter. While his old colleagues try to tempt him back to his old life he cannot be swayed, except for one time to provide security for a pop star (Valance). To Bryan’s chagrin, his desire to be a part of Kim’s life promises to be delayed when she wants to go to Paris for the summer with her best friend (Cassidy). While he is hesitant to let her go off on her own due to the risk, he eventually succumbs, and is on the phone with her when his concerns are proven right and she gets kidnapped. From that point, Bryan has, he learns from one of his old co-workers, ninety-six hours before she’s likely gone forever, and he determines to make good on his promise over the phone to one of the kidnappers: “I will find you, and I will kill you.”

Besson and co-writer Robert Mark Kamen, who’s worked with Besson before on several projects including the Transporter films, create a simple premise for Taken. While the first act of the film takes time to establish the relationships and set things up, the second that Kim gets kidnapped the movie launches into high gear with two straightforward goals—rescue the daughter and kill anyone who gets in the way. As such, one might not expect too much out of the script. However, there is a story here, particularly due to the first act where everything is established. Director Pierre Morel, a protégé of Besson’s who previously directed the low-budget and high-octane District B13, uses the remarkably well-rounded script and takes his time in establishing the world in which the movie lives. We see, in smart ways, how skilled Bryan is before he has to start his path of vengeance, and yet we also see how much he cares for the life he’s left behind. The plot points may not be the entire point of the film, but without them the audience would not feel as involved in the film, and while it’s a fairly minimal set-up it is an essential one that neither provides too much or too little.

One the movie gets out of the back story and into the hunt, that’s when the movie really kicks into high gear. Morel smartly focuses things on looking ahead and never going backward, which adds to the mounting tension of the film. The film doesn’t have time to slow down, and doing so would disrupt the pacing of the film by killing any excellent build toward the climax. He also happens to have quite the talent for staging action scenes; no surprise, with his experience working with Besson as cinematographer. He frames the action quite ably, slowly escalating things up toward the climax. His cinematography work also does him quite well in another aspect, as he captures Paris, a film he previously in the excellent Before Sunset, quite nicely. The visual look of the movie largely echoes his mentor Besson’s work, being very slick in style but never afraid to get down and dirty.

Few recent films have rested on a single actor’s shoulders as heavily as Taken does on Liam Neeson’s. Neeson is a well-known heavyweight in the dramatic arena, with an Oscar nomination for the epic Schindler’s List and a score of great performances since, from Michael Collins to Rob Roy to Kinsey. Somehow however, he’s avoided super-stardom or being considered an action star. That latter fact is quite surprising when one considers he has action-oriented roles in Star Wars: Episode I, Batman Begins, and Kingdom of Heaven to his resume. Here, Neeson establishes himself as a great action star as well as a great actor. He handles the dramatic scenes in the opening of the film quite ably before transitioning into a man who’s moving ahead with grim determination, kicking, chopping and torturing his way toward his daughter with no other goal in mind but to bring her home safe and end those who threatened her. The film succeeds largely because it’s surprisingly easy to buy Neeson—an imposing presence when he wants to be at 6’4”—as a man who can do everything that he does here. The rest of the cast is mostly solid, with Famke Janssen adding more then was required to the relatively small part of Lenore and the sea of criminals Bryan walks through doing a very adequate job. Of all the performances, the weakest comes from Maggie Grace, who plays Kim tolerably, but annoying at times and making stupid decisions when we see her leading up to her kidnapping. The choices she makes are necessary to bring about the rest of the film, but Grace doesn’t do much to help make Kim more believable.

One thing that must certainly be noted; this film is rated PG-13 and by strict criteria it fits that rating. However, it is one of the “hardest” PG-13 films that have been seen in some time. To make his way through to find his daughter, Bryan wades his way through a lot of bad guys, and some of the scenes are a bit intense for what a PG-13 film might normally show; one torture scene in particular is shocking that it didn’t earn the film an R rating even if nothing was explicitly shown. This is a credit to Morel that he is able to evoke such a reaction with the restrictions he did, but it may surprise people who are expecting a fairly safe film.

The 411: Resting on the broad and capable shoulders of Liam Neeson, Taken moves along like a lightning rod toward the inevitable ending. Director Pierre Morel creates a film that screenwriter Luc Besson would be proud of, taking a simple and fairly minimal plot and creating something amazing. The action is framed quite well and the look is impressive without having to resort to tricks and CGI, and in the end, this film takes the lead as one of the first great films of 2009.

Final Score:  8.5   [ Very Good ]