Taken (film)

Taken
French theatrical poster
Directed by	Pierre Morel
Produced by	Luc Besson
Written by	Luc Besson Robert Mark Kamen
Starring	Liam Neeson Maggie Grace Leland Orser Jon Gries David Warshofsky Katie Cassidy Holly Valance Famke Janssen
Music by	Nathaniel Mechaly
Cinematography	Michel Abramowicz
Editing by	Frédéric Thoraval
Studio	EuropaCorp
Distributed by	20th Century Fox
Release date(s)	28 September 2008 (2008-09-28) (UK) 30 January 2009 (2009-01-30) (US)
Running time	93 minutes
Country	France
Language	English
Budget	€19 million (approx. US$26.5 million)
Box office	$145,000,989 (US-Cnd) $81,829,579 (rest of world) $226,830,568 (total)

An action film, Taken is a 2008 action thriller film produced by Luc Besson, starring Liam Neeson, Maggie Grace, and Famke Janssen. The screenplay was written by Besson and Robert Mark Kamen, and directed by Pierre Morel. Neeson plays a former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) operative who sets about tracking down his daughter after she is kidnapped while traveling in France.

Plot

Highly skilled CIA field agent Bryan Mills (Liam Neeson) has retired to try to build a closer relationship with his daughter, Kim (Maggie Grace). His frequent absences made him a distant father and led to his divorce. Knowing Kim wants to be a singer, Bryan buys her an expensive karaoke machine for her birthday, only to be upstaged by her wealthy stepfather Stuart's gift of a horse.

Bryan's former colleague, Sam (Leland Orser), hires him to help provide concert security for pop singer Sheerah (Holly Valance). Backstage, Bryan tells Sheerah about his daughter's ambition, but is brushed off. After the concert, Bryan saves Sheerah from a knife-wielding assailant. She then gratefully offers to help Kim.

The next day, Bryan's ex-wife, Lenore (Famke Janssen), and Kim try to persuade Bryan to allow Kim to travel to Paris with her friend, Amanda (Katie Cassidy). Initially reluctant, he relents, only to discover at the airport that the girls actually intend to follow U2's Vertigo Tour around Europe.

Upon arriving in Paris, Kim and Amanda meet Peter (Nicolas Giraud), a handsome stranger who suggests sharing a taxi from the airport. He learns that they are staying alone in a friend's apartment and informs someone by phone.

While Bryan is talking to Kim on the phone, she sees several men enter the apartment and abduct Amanda. Bryan starts recording the call and tells Kim to shout out information about the kidnappers when they come for her. Afterward, Bryan realizes that someone has picked up the phone. He informs the listener that if they let his daughter go, he will not pursue them, but if they do not, "I will look for you, I WILL find you and I will kill you". The listener replies "good luck" and then destroys the phone. Sam listens to the recording and identifies the abductors as members of the Albanian Mafia, who specialize in kidnapping young women for sex slaves. Sam informs Bryan and Lenore that if Kim is not rescued within 96 hours, she will likely never be found. Bryan flies to Paris that evening.

After breaking into the apartment, he finds a photograph of Peter on the memory card of Kim's cellphone. Returning to the airport, he finds Peter charming another potential victim. Peter escapes when Bryan has to disable Peter's associate, only to be killed by a passing truck.

Bryan seeks help from an old friend, Jean-Claude (Olivier Rabourdin), a bureaucrat and former field agent with French intelligence. Jean-Claude tells Bryan where to start looking, but warns him not to make trouble. The trail leads to a makeshift brothel at a construction site. He recognizes Kim's jacket on a girl there and takes her with him, killing several guards in the process.

The girl gives Bryan the address where she met Kim. He bluffs his way in pretending to be a corrupt police officer looking for a bribe. Bryan identifies Marko Hoxha, the man he spoke to on the phone, by getting him to say "good luck", knocks him out and kills the other gangsters. Searching the house, he finds several captives and Amanda, dead of an overdose.

Bryan then tortures Marko using a makeshift electric chair. He learns that because Kim is a virgin, she was sold to a man named Patrice Saint-Clair (Gérard Watkins). Satisfied Marko has told him all he knows, Bryan switches on the power and walks out, leaving Marko to die.

Bryan extracts from a corrupt Jean-Claude where to find Saint-Clair by giving his wife a non-fatal gunshot flesh wound in the shoulder and threatening to kill her. After getting what he wants, he goes to Saint-Clair's mansion and finds a secret slave auction in progress. Kim is the last to be sold. Bryan forces a bidder to buy her, but is immediately caught. When Saint-Clair learns who he is, he orders his men to kill him, but Bryan overcomes his captors and tortures Saint-Clair into revealing where to find Kim, before executing him.

Bryan traces Kim to a yacht, where he dispatches all the security, including a highly skilled head guard with whom he engages in hand-to-hand combat, until Bryan eventually kills him. The buyer, a Sheikh, tries to bargain while holding Kim at knife point, but Bryan shoots him in the head before leaving with Kim.

Back in Los Angeles, Bryan reunites Kim with Lenore and Stuart. Later, Bryan surprises Kim by taking her to see Sheerah for a talent evaluation.

Cast

• Liam Neeson as Bryan Mills
• Maggie Grace as Kim Mills
• Famke Janssen as Lenore "Lennie" Mills
• Xander Berkeley as Stuart
• Katie Cassidy as Amanda
• Leland Orser as Sam
• Olivier Rabourdin as Jean-Claude
• Holly Valance as Sheerah
• Jon Gries as Casey
• David Warshofsky as Bernie
• Nathan Rippy as Victor
• Camille Japy as Isabelle
• Ahmed Hadubai as Billionaire
• Nicolas Giraud as Peter
• Arben Bajraktaraj as Marko
• Gérard Watkins as Patrice Saint-Clair
• Radivoje Bukvic as Sheikh Raman's Head Guard
• Nabil Massad as Sheikh Raman

Production

The film was produced by Luc Besson's Europacorp. It was filmed mostly in Paris with about the first 30 minutes taking place in Los Angeles. Recognizable locations in the movie are Staples Center, Los Angeles International Airport in L.A. In Paris, shooting locations were near the Eiffel Tower, the Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport, Fouquet's restaurant and the Pont des Arts.

Distribution

Taken premiered in France on February 28, 2008, with releases in the United Kingdom and United States following on September 26, 2008 and January 30, 2009, respectively.

Versions

Pierre Morel stated that the film's United States distributor, 20th Century Fox, forced him to re-edit this film for its US theatrical release so it could receive a PG-13 rating. Later, 20th Century Fox released the original version as an 'Extended Cut' on DVD and Blu-ray. The 'Extended Cut' has more violence which was cut from the US theatrical release.

Reception

On its opening day in the United States, the film grossed $9.4 million, scoring the best opening day ever for Super Bowl weekend. The film has grossed $145,000,989 in the United States and Canada, and $80,460,472 overseas, for a worldwide total of $225,461,461. The film has been compared to the television series 24: with Neeson's character compared to Jack Bauer and Grace's role of Kim Mills to Kim Bauer. Xander Berkeley, who played George Mason on 24, also has a small role in the film.

The movie received mixed to positive reviews from critics and stands at a "Rotten" 58% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with the site's critical consensus stating [that] "Taken is undeniably fun with slick action, but is largely a brainless exercise." Time Magazine said the movie "has nothing more on its mind than dozens of bad guys getting beat up and another one turned into instant roadkill." The Washington Post described the film as "a satisfying thriller as grimly professional as its efficient hero" and likened the action to the Jason Bourne series. Variety described the film as a "kick ass, pedal-to-the-metal actioner [...] that wisely doesn't give the viewer any time to ponder the string of unlikely coincidences [...] the film has the forward, devil-may-care momentum of a Bond movie on steroids."

The Los Angeles Times described the premise of Taken as "a brisk and violent action programmer that can't help being unintentionally silly at times [...] Obviously, Taken is not the kind of action film to spend much time worrying about its pedestrian script or largely indifferent acting, so it's fortunate to have Neeson in the starring role." Bryan Mills is characterized as "a relentless attack machine who is impervious to fists, bullets and fast-moving cars, he uses a variety of martial skills to knock out more opponents than Mike Tyson and casually kill those he doesn't KO."

Taken was released on DVD in May 2009. As of March 2011, 4,426,766 copies of the film had been sold generating US$68,544,181 in sales.

Sequel

In November 2010, 20th Century Fox officially announced the production of a sequel, as yet unnamed, directed by Olivier Megaton. The film is scheduled to be released in October 2012. Liam Neeson, Famke Janssen, and Maggie Grace have signed on to reprise their roles from the first film. Filming began in October 2011.

Fraud case

In 2011, a self-proclaimed counter-terrorism expert who claimed the film was based on a real-life incident that killed his daughter was convicted of wire fraud. William G. Hillar, who pretended to be a retired Green Beret colonel, claimed to have spent more than 12 years lecturing US government agencies such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation on security issues. However, records revealed he had only been a radar man in the Coast Guard Reserve between 1962 and 1970, and had never been in the US Army. Nevertheless his website claimed Taken was based on events involving him and his family. Hillar, who admitted the charges, was sentenced to 500 hours of community service at Maryland State Veteran Cemetery. He also agreed to repay $171,000.

External links

• Taken at AllRovi
• Taken at the Internet Movie Database
• Taken at Metacritic
• Taken at Box Office Mojo
• Taken at Rotten Tomatoes