2009 Movies #22
Taken (2008)
Directed by Pierre Morel (also directed District B13)
Netflixed and watching with D.
Plot in a nutshell: Liam Neeson is a bad ass, vague ex-spy type. His daughter is kidnapped. That makes him angry. And you wouldn't like him when he's angry.
My thoughts: Nah. Not worth it. I was expecting more. It's not terrible, it just never gets where it needs to be.
It takes to long in the opening setting us up. And the setup isn't all that interesting. Pretty standard action fare. And there really is no central bad guy in this film. His daughter is kidnapped by the guy at the bottom of the villain ladder, and it's a random attack, not "an old enemy out for revenge", so we're left without a real antagonist for our hero to fight against. We just get to see Liam work his way up the food chain, killing people in nicer and nicer clothes, who are really less and less responsible for his daughters abduction.
And frankly? His daughter is a spoiled brat who got kidnapped because she was stupid. In a lot of ways I didn't care if she got rescued.
Not really worth the time. Sure, Liam does a good acting job and some of the fights are pretty good, but I'm sure I've got other movies I'd rather be watching.
Directed by Pierre Morel (also directed District B13)
Netflixed and watching with D.
Plot in a nutshell: Liam Neeson is a bad ass, vague ex-spy type. His daughter is kidnapped. That makes him angry. And you wouldn't like him when he's angry.
My thoughts: Nah. Not worth it. I was expecting more. It's not terrible, it just never gets where it needs to be.
It takes to long in the opening setting us up. And the setup isn't all that interesting. Pretty standard action fare. And there really is no central bad guy in this film. His daughter is kidnapped by the guy at the bottom of the villain ladder, and it's a random attack, not "an old enemy out for revenge", so we're left without a real antagonist for our hero to fight against. We just get to see Liam work his way up the food chain, killing people in nicer and nicer clothes, who are really less and less responsible for his daughters abduction.
And frankly? His daughter is a spoiled brat who got kidnapped because she was stupid. In a lot of ways I didn't care if she got rescued.
Not really worth the time. Sure, Liam does a good acting job and some of the fights are pretty good, but I'm sure I've got other movies I'd rather be watching.