Former CIA agent goes through action hero motions to rescue spoiled girl from human traffickers, but delivers killer speech
SPOILER ALERT: This blog is published ahead of the screening on Film4 on Saturday 20 July at 9pm. Do not read if you have not seen the film and don't want to know anything about it.
*"I don't know who you are. I don't know what you want. If you are looking for ransom, I can tell you I don't have money … " Bryan Mills*
Taken grossed almost a quarter of a billion dollars worldwide. Discount all the big franchises that he's been peripherally involved in, like Star Wars and Batman and Narnia, and it's probably the biggest hit of Liam Neeson's career. And, for the life of me, I will never be able to work out why. Taken is an action film starring a celebrated actor in his late 50s who isn't really known for his action roles. It isn't very well directed and its plot is almost laughably slight. It's filmed in locations that practically scream "tax break". It looks, and for once this is not a compliment, as if it should be a Nicolas Cage vehicle.
Neeson plays a former CIA agent whose daughter is taken. He says that he's going to take her back, and then he takes her back, and that's it. That's literally the whole film. It's like making a film about a man who says he's going to make a sandwich and then makes a sandwich, or a film about a man who says he's going to point at a door and then points at a door. Thank God, Taken is so much fun.
*"But what I do have is a very particular set of skills; skills I have acquired over a very long career. Skills that make me a nightmare for people like you … " *
There's some neat character exposition at the start of film. The first we see of Liam Neeson, he's poring over the instruction manual of an unpurchased karaoke machine that he's spent months deliberating over. As he wraps it, he obsessively creases the corners with his fingernails. A minute in, Taken could go one of two ways – it could either be the story of a man saving his daughter from human traffickers, or the story of Liam Neeson going on a murderous OCD freakout because he saw some wrongly aligned wallpaper.
Other than that, he's essentially TV agent Jack Bauer. A gruff, no-nonsense action hero who isn't afraid to break the rules to get what he wants and assumes that one-off displays of sadistic violence will make his daughter love him more than, say, 15 years of paternal attentiveness. Yes, I'm judging Liam Neeson. Yes, this is probably the stupidest thing I've ever done.
*"If you let my daughter go now, that'll be the end of it. I will not look for you, I will not pursue you …" *
I can't be alone in thinking that the world would probably be a better place if Liam Neeson hadn't gone to all that trouble to save his daughter. Look at her. Spoiled, clearly at least a decade older than she claims to be, and in possession of a run that makes her look as if she's trying to fend off a relentless moth attack. She can barely even set foot outside an airport before she's trafficked by literally the first person she sees. She's a girl that only a compulsively violent father could love. I mean, her idea of a fun summer is following U2 around Europe. U2, for crying out loud. The girl is 17. Some people are just better off being sold into slavery.
*"But if you don't, I will look for you, I will find you, and I will kill you …" *
The central sequence in Taken is, of course, The Speech. The closest that the film gets to being truly gripping is the one where Liam Neeson, as calmly as possible, explains to his daughter that she's about to be abducted. And then unveils The Speech to her abductors. The speech so important that it graced the film's own poster. The speech so iconic that it's been parodied on Family Guy and The Trip and the internet again and again and again .
The beauty of The Speech is in its simplicity, the way it clearly signposts exactly what's going to happen in the rest of the film and Neeson's gruffly resigned delivery. He's been in similar situations before, which is why there's such an assured emphasis in his voice as he says "I will find you."
It's hard to imagine any other actor bringing the same level of gravitas to the speech. If Taken really was a Nicolas Cage vehicle, this is where the whole thing would disappear down the toilet. If Neeson finally agrees to make Taken 3, every single cent of his reported $20m (£13m) salary would have been earned during the filming of this scene.
*Observations*
Of course, because Taken wasn't a Nicolas Cage vehicle, Cage went and made his own version. It's called Stolen, it came out last year and I do not recommend watching it.
Xander Berkley's annoying husband character is called Stuart, furthering my theory that the name "Stuart" is rapidly becoming a shorthand for "douchebag" in film. My parents have a lot to answer for.
One theory why Liam Neeson is so downbeat throughout the film – his three best pals are perhaps the worst people alive.
For someone who left for Paris in such a hurry, Liam Neeson sure managed to panic-pack a stylish all-weather capsule wardrobe. Maybe this is part of CIA training.
Perhaps the best thing about Taken: without it, there's a good chance that Neeson would have never made The Grey. And that's a stupendous film.
I find that Taken works best if you imagine that, as he leave Holly Valance's home at the end of the film, Liam Neeson is arrested and immediately charged with the brutal murder of 32 people. Reported by guardian.co.uk 1 day ago.
SPOILER ALERT: This blog is published ahead of the screening on Film4 on Saturday 20 July at 9pm. Do not read if you have not seen the film and don't want to know anything about it.
*"I don't know who you are. I don't know what you want. If you are looking for ransom, I can tell you I don't have money … " Bryan Mills*
Taken grossed almost a quarter of a billion dollars worldwide. Discount all the big franchises that he's been peripherally involved in, like Star Wars and Batman and Narnia, and it's probably the biggest hit of Liam Neeson's career. And, for the life of me, I will never be able to work out why. Taken is an action film starring a celebrated actor in his late 50s who isn't really known for his action roles. It isn't very well directed and its plot is almost laughably slight. It's filmed in locations that practically scream "tax break". It looks, and for once this is not a compliment, as if it should be a Nicolas Cage vehicle.
Neeson plays a former CIA agent whose daughter is taken. He says that he's going to take her back, and then he takes her back, and that's it. That's literally the whole film. It's like making a film about a man who says he's going to make a sandwich and then makes a sandwich, or a film about a man who says he's going to point at a door and then points at a door. Thank God, Taken is so much fun.
*"But what I do have is a very particular set of skills; skills I have acquired over a very long career. Skills that make me a nightmare for people like you … " *
There's some neat character exposition at the start of film. The first we see of Liam Neeson, he's poring over the instruction manual of an unpurchased karaoke machine that he's spent months deliberating over. As he wraps it, he obsessively creases the corners with his fingernails. A minute in, Taken could go one of two ways – it could either be the story of a man saving his daughter from human traffickers, or the story of Liam Neeson going on a murderous OCD freakout because he saw some wrongly aligned wallpaper.
Other than that, he's essentially TV agent Jack Bauer. A gruff, no-nonsense action hero who isn't afraid to break the rules to get what he wants and assumes that one-off displays of sadistic violence will make his daughter love him more than, say, 15 years of paternal attentiveness. Yes, I'm judging Liam Neeson. Yes, this is probably the stupidest thing I've ever done.
*"If you let my daughter go now, that'll be the end of it. I will not look for you, I will not pursue you …" *
I can't be alone in thinking that the world would probably be a better place if Liam Neeson hadn't gone to all that trouble to save his daughter. Look at her. Spoiled, clearly at least a decade older than she claims to be, and in possession of a run that makes her look as if she's trying to fend off a relentless moth attack. She can barely even set foot outside an airport before she's trafficked by literally the first person she sees. She's a girl that only a compulsively violent father could love. I mean, her idea of a fun summer is following U2 around Europe. U2, for crying out loud. The girl is 17. Some people are just better off being sold into slavery.
*"But if you don't, I will look for you, I will find you, and I will kill you …" *
The central sequence in Taken is, of course, The Speech. The closest that the film gets to being truly gripping is the one where Liam Neeson, as calmly as possible, explains to his daughter that she's about to be abducted. And then unveils The Speech to her abductors. The speech so important that it graced the film's own poster. The speech so iconic that it's been parodied on Family Guy and The Trip and the internet again and again and again .
The beauty of The Speech is in its simplicity, the way it clearly signposts exactly what's going to happen in the rest of the film and Neeson's gruffly resigned delivery. He's been in similar situations before, which is why there's such an assured emphasis in his voice as he says "I will find you."
It's hard to imagine any other actor bringing the same level of gravitas to the speech. If Taken really was a Nicolas Cage vehicle, this is where the whole thing would disappear down the toilet. If Neeson finally agrees to make Taken 3, every single cent of his reported $20m (£13m) salary would have been earned during the filming of this scene.
*Observations*
Of course, because Taken wasn't a Nicolas Cage vehicle, Cage went and made his own version. It's called Stolen, it came out last year and I do not recommend watching it.
Xander Berkley's annoying husband character is called Stuart, furthering my theory that the name "Stuart" is rapidly becoming a shorthand for "douchebag" in film. My parents have a lot to answer for.
One theory why Liam Neeson is so downbeat throughout the film – his three best pals are perhaps the worst people alive.
For someone who left for Paris in such a hurry, Liam Neeson sure managed to panic-pack a stylish all-weather capsule wardrobe. Maybe this is part of CIA training.
Perhaps the best thing about Taken: without it, there's a good chance that Neeson would have never made The Grey. And that's a stupendous film.
I find that Taken works best if you imagine that, as he leave Holly Valance's home at the end of the film, Liam Neeson is arrested and immediately charged with the brutal murder of 32 people. Reported by guardian.co.uk 1 day ago.