Movies You Missed the First Time Around
This is the first installment of a new feature here on DSB…we will be highlighting movies that you probably missed during their initial theatrical run but are worth your time seeking out from Netflix.
Taken
Plot:
Retired CIA agent Bryan Mills (Liam Neeson) left the Agency to be closer to his seventeen year-old daughter, Kim (Maggie Grace), who now lives with his ex-wife and her new, wealthy husband. Mills reluctantly agrees to let Kim travel to Paris for the summer with her best friend. When they arrive they meet a charming stranger, Peter, at the airport taxi stand who offers to share a cab ride with them. He turns out to be the point person for an Albanese gang of human traffickers who end up kidnapping Kim and her friend. Mills immediately travels to Paris to find Kim and deliver retribution for her abduction using his particular set of skills that he has acquired over a long career.
Key Scenes:
- As the movie opens, we see Mills finally purchasing a karaoke machine that he has researched and investigated for weeks. After the purchase, we see him precisely and methodically wrapping the gift. This is an insight into the disciplined and meticulous mind of Mills that we will witness.
- The signature scene of the movie (and the one that was edited down for the trailer) is the actual abduction of Kim while she is on the phone with Mills and his subsequent conversation with the kidnapper where he vows to find him and kill him.
- My favorite scene takes place at his old acquaintance Jean Claude’s home over dinner…I won’t spoil it other than to say it’s the second best use in a movie of the term flesh wound. It is shocking in Mills’ ruthless and systematic approach to find his daughter.
DSB Review:
In lesser hands, Taken could have been a formulaic and paint-by-the-numbers thriller along the likes of a Seagal or Van Damme flick from 15 years ago. However, Neeson elevates the material and single-handedly carries the film on his shoulders.
You don’t think that this is necessarily Neeson’s “type” of movie, but when you look back at his past roles – you realize he has a strong background in action films that include the Swayze vehicle Next of Kin, the title character in Darkman, and the villain Ra's al Ghul in Batman Begins.
Clocking in at a very brisk 93 minutes, the film flies by showing Mills’ relentless pursuit of his daughter and the men responsible. Taking cues from the recent Bourne and Daniel Craig-era James Bond movies, Taken is one action sequence after another hurtling towards the inevitable conclusion. The one thing this movie has over those others is Neeson’s portrayal of a man who no longer lives by any rules anymore - he no longer has a moral compass of right or wrong other than finding his daughter and returning her safely.
Check it out if you: are a guy’s guy who likes car chases and hand-to-hand combat action sequences
Skip it if you: have a daughter planning a eurotrip or to study abroad and you are NOT an ex-CIA operative
Thanks for coming and suckling Daddy’s Sugar Ball…
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