There must be laws to govern a civilization; and to maintain any semblance of order, all men must follow them. But when some refuse to obey society’s laws, what must a just man do to defend himself and those he loves in the face of evil? How far can he go in this quest before his ruthlessness has rendered him just as irredeemable as his enemies?
But when the lives of innocents are at stake, is there indeed a limit? Can a truly righteous man live with himself if innocent people die because he refused to cross a moral line in order to save them?
These are the questions of our times. They are the essential questions of law and conscience that bitterly divide civil society even as we scramble to face a mortal threat from those who seek nothing but our utter destruction.
Taken is a simple film, but it exists in the epicenter of this grand debate. On the surface, it is little more than a straightforward and effective action movie, but on a deeper level, this film addresses the cultural zeitgeist and delivers an unapologetic response.
Liam Neeson stars as Bryan Mills, a former CIA operative whose demanding career cost him his marriage and severely stunted his relationship with his teenage daughter Kim (Maggie Grace). Determined to make the most of the time he has left, Bryan retires from the service and devotes himself to being a bigger part of Kim’s life.
After Kim’s worldly friend Amanda invites her to visit Paris for the summer, she begs Bryan to let her go. Kim’s mother and stepfather (Famke Janssen and Xander Berkley) are anxious for her to explore the wider world, but Bryan is much more reluctant. The harsh realities of his job have infected him with a jaded awareness of the darkest threats crouching at the limits of society.
Pressured, burdened with guilt, and wary of pushing Kim away, Bryan finally relents; but his worst nightmares are realized when Kim is abducted by a gang of Albanian sex traffickers shortly after touching down in Paris. Armed with keen instincts and unique skills, Bryan sets off in relentless pursuit of the callous kidnappers.
Taken is a dark, well-paced, tense, and exciting thriller. It’s a compact and artfully austere film, helmed with an often elegant sense of economy and book-ended by understated and strangely powerful opening and closing credits. In between there are no wasted scenes and no wasted energy. This is taut, tightly edited storytelling, and it immeasurably heightens the suspense by allowing an audience to draw deeply into the experience.
Liam Neeson isn’t the most conventional choice for such a role, but he is utterly and completely convincing as a man whose love and devotion make him more like an unstoppable force of nature. His voice is almost hypnotic and he delivers his lines with an odd mix of unsettlingly iciness and reassuring strength. Bryan is calm but ruthless, smart, calculating, and determined. Think Jack Bauer, but with an accent and a bit more gravitas.
Xander Berkley is a dependable and prolific actor, and he seems to be channeling his weak and ineffectual character from Heat in this role. He and Janssen are perfectly capable in their limited screen time, and suitably naïve as the clueless foils to Neeson’s world-weary hero.
Unfortunately, Maggie Grace stumbles a bit while trying to fill Kim’s designer shoes. Despite her youthful appearance, Grace is nearly a decade older than her seventeen year old character, and at times she seems to be trying too hard to hit every clichéd note on the typical “teenage role” play sheet. She often comes off even younger than seventeen, and a few scenes suffer awkwardly as a result. Luckily, these few missteps aren’t enough to derail the whole production, and she does handle herself admirably in her more desperate scenes.
Taken is effective in its simplicity. The plot rejects superhuman leaps of logic or serendipitous gifts of blind luck. Bryan’s investigation and pursuit is believable, methodical, and easy to follow. This basis in reality hooks the audience and refuses to let go until the final, breathless frames.
The thrilling action scenes are brutal and visceral, but they never cross the line into absurdity. In keeping with the film’s minimalist aesthetic, Bryan’s frequent encounters with the denizens of Paris’ seedy underworld are brief and engaging, highlighting the uncanny skills of a professional who’s been honed as a human weapon and trained to take down threats as quickly and efficiently as possible. This commitment to a sense of realism breaks down only when the villains’ aim with automatic weapons fails them while Bryan’s shots always ring true.
Shaky camera work and disorienting edits are the bane of modern action films (thanks a lot, The Bourne Supremacy), and they are both present and accounted for in Taken. While these techniques are occasionally distracting (particularly during the realistically filmed, but confusingly edited car chase), you can still tell what’s happening onscreen. I long for the day when these tired conventions are a thing of the past, but I’m thankful that they don’t detract from this film as a whole or sap any of its intensity.
Taken is rated PG-13, but the DVD and Blu-Ray releases also feature an unrated version that I have not reviewed. The film’s violence is frequent, heavy, and brutal; but mostly – almost unrealistically – bloodless. Two scenes of torture may particularly disturb some viewers.
There is a smattering of foul language, but the central issue of sexual slavery and human trafficking is handled with restraint. There is some frank sexual talk, but nothing graphic is discussed or shown onscreen. Still, despite the film’s lack of strong content, its tone and subject matter are such that it is best reserved for a mature audience.
Upon its release, Taken was greeted with a fair amount of controversy. Some criticized it for featuring an American hero trouncing boldly through a foreign metropolis, brutally murdering Eastern European and Middle Eastern villains; while others praised it for refusing to bow under the pressure of political correctness. Some branded it nothing more than a xenophobic and jingoistic revenge fantasy, while others proclaimed it a rousing, red-blooded, and masculine answer to both the enemies that threaten our way of life and those who refuse to fight them.
Taken addresses the issues of sex trafficking with restraint and gravity, but can a film like this truly pay proper respect to a subject of such real tragedy and human suffering? On the other hand, maybe we would do better to adopt Bryan’s uncompromising attitude and take a brave, principled, and – yes - even ruthless stand against this unparalleled wickedness?
Perhaps it is unrealistic, even ridiculous to think that a father could rescue his daughter in this fashion. Certainly, he possesses a unique brand of skills, but wouldn’t you do everything in your power to save your child? Wouldn’t it be callous, unloving and immoral not to do so?
It’s true that Bryan leaves a tangled and mangled mess of villains in his wake, but to simply bend to an incompetent system and the depravity it allows – wouldn’t that be the greater of two evils? Certainly an end does not justify any and all means, but does this rule still apply when your family is in danger? And doesn’t true justice dictate that these evil men got what they deserved?
Regardless of how you feel about these issues, it is clear that Taken refuses to compromise. It’s an unapologetic tale of a loving father’s relentless struggle to save his daughter from a doom of unimaginable horror. You may not agree with his methods, but perhaps we can all agree that his devotion and determination are admirable and imitable.
Caution Rating: 9
