Taken

Welcome to another episode of The "D" List.

Today's film is Taken. Directed by Pierre Morel and written by Luc Besson and Robert Mark Kamen.

After seeing all these oscar nominated films I figured I would change things up and see something different. There was 1 problem. Taken isn't different at all. Going into this film, for some insane reason I thought I was going to see a different take on the same tired story of the retired super soldier who's sprung back into action after a family tragedy. Sadly that was not the case and I guess it serves me right for believing the possibility of originality.

Anyway, in a nutshell that's the plot of Taken. Bryan Mills played by a ferocious Liam Neeson is a retired CIA agent who quit to try and reclaim some form of a relationship with his estranged daughter Kim played by Maggie Grace also known to us "Losties" as Shannon. While on a trip to Paris, Kim and her friend are abducted to be sold as sex slaves which prompts Bryan to spring into action and save the day.

This film clearly suffers from 3 of the 5 elements that I like to call "The 5 Deadly P's." The 5 Deadly P's are the following.

Pacing
Plot Holes
Perception
Potential
Plausibility

Now you can make the case that most if not every movie has at least 1 or all 5 of these elements. But the good/great films find away to either eliminate them or mask them so that you either miss it or don't care it's there. Taken fails to accomplish that. In my opinion, the 3 P's the film suffers from are Potential, Plot Holes and Plausibility. Potential and Plausibility are obvious so i'll just tackle the 2 major Plot Holes.

Plot hole #1

This is one that we have all seen in films of this genre. Here's this guy in Paris tearing the city apart. He's beating the crap out of everyone, getting into shootouts and car chases and there's not a cop in sight. In their slight defense, a lot of Neeson's fight scenes are set in very remote/quiet areas but still, let's see some flashing lights and sirens guys. The tension and drama intensifies for our hero when he has to dodge the cops while searching for his daughter. You want and need that challenge and for reasons I still can't figure out it doesn't happen here. I guess you could call this a Plausibility issue too. You make the call.

Plot Hole #2

Earlier in the film there is a scene between Bryan and his former CIA partners. They get together and reminisce about operations they did overseas and how Bryan should come out of retirement and re-join the team. This scene establishes Bryan's background and training also to show that he wasn't a 1 man gang when he was active.

With the exception of 1 scene where Bryan asks one of his friends to analyze the recording he made of Kim's abduction so that the language can be traced and identified, his friends are never heard from again in the film. Why in the world would you not use your friends who are just as equally trained and willing to back a friend in trouble? I realize that the point is to see Bryan be the hero and save his daughter but it's not any less heroic to have some help from some very capable resources.

Another issue with Taken is the main villain. The guy responsible for the sex slave trade. He's absolutely LAUGHABLE! There is no threat to this guy. Someone in his position should inspire fear and control. He exhibits neither and when Bryan finally confronts him. I would like to say he doesn't go down without a fight, instead he just goes down and quite cowardly I might add.

Despite how this review sounds, there were some things about Taken that I did like.

When the recording is analyzed, it's revealed that Bryan has about 96 hours to find Kim or she's gone forever. The film does a nice job of presenting that sense of urgency. Bryan wastes no time looking for leads, he goes to the apartment where Kim was taken, tries to re-trace what happened from the recording and goes from there.

I enjoyed Neeson's performance. He definitely got across the fact that he was a highly trained and skilled operative. When he hears over the phone that his daughter is going to be kidnapped, he never panics. Instead he accepts the fact that she will be taken and takes the necessary steps to gather enough clues that will help him get her back. And I will admit, it was fun to see him fight all over Paris and trust me he fights a lot.

Finally, there was 1 scene that I particularly enjoyed. After Kim's taken, Bryan goes to Lenore's house to search Kim's room looking for clues. It's there he gets the call from his friend that analyzed the recording. Bryan puts the call on speaker so Lenore can hear all the details. When questioned about it he sternly responds "She needs to hear this." It's then explained to both of them who took her and why and how long Bryan has to find her before she's gone.

What made this scene so enjoyable for me was that prior to Kim's trip, Lenore constantly chastised Bryan for being a CIA man 1st and a father 2nd. And that all his training is the reason why he didn't want Kim to go on the trip. I truly feel that in addition to having Lenore face the reality of the situation, it was a backhanded "I told you so" moment and I loved it. That may sound sadistic on my part but I felt bad for Bryan taking all that crap from Lenore when all he was trying to do was protect his child from dangers he KNOWS exists.

That's what I enjoyed from Taken. Sadly, that's not enough for me. Overall it's a decent action film but there was potential for more suspense/drama/tension and it failed to deliver.

On the 5 star scale, Taken gets 2 stars and a "Netflix it" recommendation. If you do rent it and feel just as unsatisfied as yours truly then I highly recommend renting David Mamet's 2004 film Spartan. It has a very similar story line with 1 major exception. Spartan has a brain.

Slumdog Millionaire and Push are next with Milk to follow.

Until Next Episode....I'll save you a seat.