Stockholm Syndrome; Liam Neeson’s latest action flick entertains, but falls short of his previous epics.

You know you’re in for a balls-to-the-wall action thriller when one of the more humorous scenes is a guy getting hit by a truck.

Likewise, revenge flicks are always the simplest of premises, and ‘Taken’ promises no big surprises and pushes few boundaries. It’s a slick action movie that you know the ending to already; it’s getting there that’s the exciting part.

Director Pierre Morel (‘Banlieue 13’) makes his mainstream American debut by introducing Bryan Mills (Liam Neeson, ‘Batman Begins’), a retired, lonely divorcee who finds the only meaning in his life from his daughter Kim (Maggie Grace, ‘LOST’). He cares about his daughter to the extent of borderline obsession, to the chagrin of his filthy rich ex-wife (Famke Janssen, ‘X-Men’).

He’s also an ex-CIA spy whose former life was shrouded in secrecy but has taught him much in the ways of kicking ass, as he proves in a short side plot where he prevents some pop star (Holly Valance) from getting stabbed.

If only the bad guys knew at this point.



Kim and her live-life-on-the-edge, nail-every-French-guy-she-meets friend Amanda tell Neeson that they’re going to Paris, but don’t mention that they’re going to follow U2 on a European tour. Unsurprisingly, before they get a chance to see Bono, they get taken. Turns out a gang of Albanian sex traffickers are making a tidy profit from kidnapping na’ve foreign tourists.

Suddenly, Neeson has only 96 hours before the Albanians’ traveling circus of sex slaves disappears into the black market. And so begins a fast-paced chase through the underbelly of Paris, where gruff, expressionless Neeson proceeds to stab, shoot and kick the crap out of a Model UN’s worth of generic-looking baddies, including Albanians, Russians, Frenchmen, Arabs, and even a random American who insists that it’s ‘just business, it’s nothing personal.’

As a father transformed into a one-man killing machine he doesn’t flinch at anything, even when it comes to hijacking taxicabs or torturing the mob boss with electric wires in a gratuitous torture scene that would make Jack Bauer proud. ‘I’ll tear down the Eiffel Tower if I have to!’ he growls, and the movie struggles with self-parody as you slowly realize that he wasn’t kidding. He’s gotta save his daughter, the movie hammers into our heads, and if an innocent woman gets shot then so be it.

One rare moment of humanity occurs when, after witnessing plenty of dead young girls and heroin-addicted prostitutes, he rescues one of them and nurses her back to health. It provides some welcoming tension for when Neeson inevitably comes face to face with his daughter, dreading what she’s turned into.

Veteran writer and director Luc Besson is a legend in France, where his talents are split between meaningful, well-scripted action films (‘The Professional,’ ‘Nikita’) and cheeseball hilarity (‘The Transporter,’ ‘The Fifth Element’). Here, he’s written a slick action movie that can be best summed up as ‘efficient.’

Much like the lead character, the movie flows quickly with a healthy suspension of disbelief. Just how does Neeson manage to find his targets so quickly? And why is he speaking so much English?

The scenes transition abruptly: One second he’s asking his former CIA cronies to look up some bad guys, the next second he’s pounding their faces in. It’s all very formulaic, but the relentless action makes up for it.

The excellent cinematography is dark and unobtrusive, with little of the dreaded shaky-cam action that’s so in vogue with action movies. For a movie made by two French people, however, the only clue that viewers have that it’s in Paris is that the people are named Jean-Claude.

‘Taken’ is one of those films that airs on TBS at 3 in the morning that you end up watching anyway, because it’s too much of a stretch to reach out and grab the remote so you can get some sleep like a normal human being.

It takes a renowned actor who doesn’t feel challenged at all and strives for nothing more than melodramatic action fare. Don’t take Neeson’s newfound superhero abilities too seriously and the film is passable for a momentary adrenaline rush.





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