Review: Taken

Bit of a random choice of film, this. I’d not heard of Taken before I checked out the cinema times but the trailer looked pretty good. And, I’m rather glad we opted for it.

It’s a by-the-numbers thriller. You kind of know how it’s going to go from the start right to the end, but along the way it’s got some great set pieces and superb action. Ex-CIA agent separated from wife is talked into allowing his daughter to go to Paris. He warns her about how bad the world is. She insists it’s all fine. She gets kidnapped. Angry daddy flies to France and goes on the rampage.

Liam Neeson shows why he was considered for Bond before they picked Pierce Brosnan by being somewhat pretty kick-ass. Actually, I think he’s got a touch of the Daniel Craig about him. As Leah put it, “a bit of rough”. At 56, he’s a bit over the hill for playing Bond, but he does look the part in smart clothes and you certainly wouldn’t mess with him if you kidnapped his daughter.

Without a doubt there are a few plot-holes – like why does nobody question a “French” policeman’s Irish American accent? But the pace is generally so fast that by the time you start worrying about this, Neeson’s breaking someone else’s arm.

A few of the reviews I’ve scanned are scathing about the film’s so-called “racism”, stereotyping Eastern Europeans as gangsters and Arabs as rich kiddy-fiddlers. Well, so bloody what? Someone has to be the bad guy. Shall we burn all the old Bond novels because Blofeld was obviously Eastern European and therefore that’s an insult? True fact – Albanians can be gangsters the same way the Italians can. Arabs can treat women like **** the same way a drunk in a Glasgow council flat can. Deal with it – it’s a film.

As with many French-set and French-directed films, the action sequences are pretty impressive. Car chases, frenetic fight scenes and the like. If you liked The Transporter and Ronin, you’ll probably go for this. It’s not as over the top as the former, or as deep as the latter but it’s fun in its own right.