DVD Reviews

Taken – DVD Review

By Jeff Swindoll Jun 8, 2009, 16:07 GMT

$Taken (Blu-ray) What could be a skillful but ordinary action flick gets a surprising emotional heft from the presence of Liam Neeson as the hero. Bryan Mills (Neeson) has given up his career as a spy to form a relationship with his estranged teenage daughter--but when, on a trip to Paris, she\'s kidnapped by slavers, Mills uses all his connections and skills to turn the city of lights upside down$

Taken (Blu-ray) What could be a skillful but ordinary action flick gets a surprising emotional heft from the presence of Liam Neeson as the hero. Bryan Mills (Neeson) has given up his career as a spy to form a relationship with his estranged teenage daughter--but when, on a trip to Paris, she\'s kidnapped by slavers, Mills uses all his connections and skills to turn the city of lights upside down ...more

You don’t want to mess with Bryan Mills. Even worse you don’t want to mess with his beloved daughter. He’ll track you down and make you pay no matter your location or status in an effort to make sure his little girl comes home safely.

Bryan Mills (Liam Neeson) is devoted to his daughter Kim (Maggie Grace). She lives with his ex-wife Lenore (Famke Janssen) and her new husband Stuart (Xander Berkeley), but he looks forward eagerly to the time that they can spend together. Bryan was gone for long stretches of time since he was employed by the U.S. government “preventing” international incidents.

His daughter’s birthday is coming up and he’s searched far and wide to get her the perfect present – a karaoke machine. When he arrives there’s some tension with his ex, but Kim seems grateful for his present until Stuart presents her with a horse. Brian leaves the party disenchanted, but some of his ex-CIA cronies arrive and they ask him to do security detail on pop singer Sheerah (Holly Valance).

Bryan saves Sheerah from a knife-wielding thug and she promises to give Kim a listen since she wants to become a singer. Bryan’s elated when Kim calls and wants to have lunch with him the next day. He arrives at the restaurant, but is puzzled when Lenore also shows up since he thought it was a father/daughter event. They inform him of the real reason for the lunch is that he needs to sign paperwork allowing Kim to travel to Paris with her friend Amanda (Katie Cassidy).

Bryan, who knows what terrible things can happen to girls traveling Europe alone, refuses and causes a rift with Kim. He relents and signs the paper but with strict conditions that she call in at various times. Kim and Amanda arrive in Paris and meet Peter (Nicolas Giraud) who offers to share a taxi and Amanda agrees since she likes him.

They arrive at Amanda’s cousin’s apartment only to find that Amanda lied to Kim that they’d be there since they’re in Switzerland. Kim isn’t happy with her friend but has to go to the bathroom. She sees across the courtyard that strangers have entered the apartment and are kidnapping Amanda.

She calls her father who instructs her on how to hide and what information to shout into the phone. They take his daughter and he swears to them over the phone line that they will hear from him and they’ll pay for harming his family.

My kids came into the room and kept asking if this was “James Bond.” I wanted to tell them it was “Darkman’s Revenge” but I doubted that they’d get the joke. However, Taken has some similarities to Bond that make it a fun (if we can say that about kidnapping and sex slavery) film.

Liam Neeson is our man of mystery who has a skill set that is not unlike our Mr. Bond. Of course, the time he spent acquiring those skills cost him his daughter and his marriage. The angle that I thought was silly was the whole pop star bit, but I guess it works its way into the story. It’s just a plot device to have something that will make Bryan seem “cool” to his daughter, if she makes it back home that is.

Neeson is excellent as the desperate father facing a 96 hour deadline before his daughter could vanish forever. There are many action set pieces, chases, etc. It’s quite thrilling when we get to Paris and have him on the hunt.

The before and after the chase is what distracted me a bit. When we’re in the chase it’s a roller coaster ride that Neeson commands well. The disc contains both a PG-13 theatrical version (90 minutes) and an unrated cut (93 minutes).

Taken is presented in anamorphic widescreen (2.35:1) and is enhanced for 16x9 televisions. Disc one contains the special features and disc two is a digital copy, for your PC or portable device.

Special features include two commentaries, both on the unrated cut of the film. The first is from director Pierre Morel and cinematographers Michel Abramowicz and Michel Julienne. The second is from writer Robert Mark Kamen. Next is the 18 minute “The Making of Taken,” the 4 minute “Avant Premiere” at the Paris premiere (sadly featuring Neeson and wife Natasha Richardson, perhaps their last public appearance before her untimely death), and the 11 minute “Inside Action” showcasing the stunt work.

It takes a time to introduce the characters and situations, including a superfluous pop star subplot, but once Bryan hits Paris hell hath no fury like a father out to rescue his daughter. Neeson plays the lion of a father fabulously, but the screenplay could’ve done without the odder bits.