2/3/09: Taken (2008)We’d have taken
Taken more seriously if it weren’t for a couple of things. For starters, the film opened in about 3,000 more theaters than we expected.
Taken had already played in plenty of countries around the world, and was already available on DVD in some markets. There were enough downloads around that we expected
Taken to get a token release. Somebody at Fox made a good call, because this humble actioner still opened at #1 this past weekend.
Maybe
Taken benefited from how Barack Obama is in office, and now everybody gets to be pro-torture. Rendition has become so hip that they should remake the box-office bomb of the same title from 2007. Of course, a movie doesn’t warrant our attention merely because it’s about a former government operative using vigilante justice to track down his kidnapped daughter. As we’ve often noted, Hollywood is full of the kind of hypocrisy where action heroes use the same methods routinely denounced by the Leftist celebrities who make the films.
Taken is similar to plenty of movies that we’d routinely ignore.
The big difference is that
Taken does brave things with its international setting. Liam Neeson stars as Bryan Mills, and his accent jumps around too much to reveal which country he’s supposed to represent. Still, he’s ex-CIA with a teen daughter who’s all-American right down to her dreams of pop stardom.
Things go wrong when Kim (that’s Mills’ daughter) takes a trip to Paris and runs afoul of evil men. We’re keeping the details vague.
Taken isn’t a mystery, but a lot of the fun is figuring out motivations and the lack thereof. You’re also spared a lot of the usual Leftist baggage. Mills isn’t the perfect dad, but his old pals in the CIA are a friendly bunch of guys. Mills even once bailed out on a mission to fly halfway across the world for his daughter’s birthday. Kim isn’t looking for trouble in Paris, either. She’s no ugly American that you’d want to see tortured in the
Hostel franchise.
That’s important, since director Pierre Morel’s last hit was the French action film
B-13. That was an exciting movie spoiled by predictable plot twists straight out of Hollywood’s code of politically correct bad guys.
Taken doesn’t end up in that quagmire. We mentioned that the film’s pro-torture, which is always nice in the pursuit of justice.
Taken is also pro-American in other weird ways. This leads to a big gag at the end about negotiation. It’s the kind of scene you’ve enjoyed in movies before, but the parties involved make for daring cinema. The film’s rated PG-13, too, so young people can finally enjoy a positive message under this new administration.
Make it your own: In
theaters now—or go rent the DVD if you’re in some place like Germany.
