Taken

[MacGuffin]

Trailer here.

Release Date: January 30th, 2009 (wide)

Starring: Liam Neeson, Maggie Grace, Famke Janssen, Anjul Nigam, Xander Berkeley 

Directed by: Pierre Morel (District B13)

Premise: A former government operative comes out of retirement and uses his extensive training to rescue his daughter from a slave trade operation.

[Kal]

The trailer for this looks good.

[Gold Trumpet]

It's an alright movie. The Jason Bourne idea of a hero appeals to me on a basic level so I am finding these movies pretty enjoyable. Taken adds nothing new to the mold, but Neeson's character is a little more compelling than Bourne. He is driven to some insane ends to find his daughter who was kidnapped while vacationing in Europe. The film has the character do some morally questionable acts that I don't think Bourne would have even done, but Taken never brings these things to the next step. It never makes a deeper context out of this character's inert anger at finding his daughter. Everything just leads to another action scene.

I stll enjoyed this film because the plot puzzle of finding his daughter and the fighting scenes were enjoyable enough, but tv shows like Burn Notice come out with just as good plot puzzlers every week. I think what we have to expect with the film versions of the super spy is just better special effects and more thorough action scenes. 

Oh, I've seen this because it's already been released in numerous countries and good quality versions of it exist online. 

[pete]

It was so stupid.  Bourne Identity meets conservative American dad.  Really cartoonish villains and awful mystery solving skills.  Apparently the way to impersonate a French cop is to speak American English to everyone you meet.  The fights are ok, they're coordinated by some boys from the 4-16 production, a real solid stunt group.  But this is a film that has no idea what it's talking about, I like spy movies because they make me feel smart simply by agreeing with the screenplay, but this one is one of the dumbest things I've seen, which defeats the purpose of the spy movies.  This movie is a lot closer to something like Kiss of the Dragon (without the kicking), which was also written and produced by Luc Besson and Mark Kamen.  It's kinda like a paranoid dad fantasy - if you're 60 and your daughter is rocking out in Europe and you're not okay with it, then this movie is for you.

[Pozer]

oh yeah.. i saw this movie a month ago and then forgot about it.

[SiliasRuby]

Sounds terrible, I'm in.

[hedwig]

props to the poster designer for capturing liam neeson's voice with font.

[private witt]

This movie has had tv spots every ten minutes on almost every cable channel I've seen for the last two weeks.  If I see Liam stab that guys thighs with nails one more time I'm going to puke.  Nobody wants to see Oscar Schindler running around as Jason Bourne, especially when it's rated PG-13.

[RegularKarate]

Nobody wants to see Oscar Schindler running around as Jason Bourne

A less true thing has never been spoken.

(not saying this particular movie will be good... just that you're wrong about this statement)

[private witt]

Nobody wants to see Oscar Schindler running around as Jason Bourne

A less true thing has never been spoken.
(not saying this particular movie will be good... just that you're wrong about this statement)

Okay, maybe I would like to see that, but ONLY if he was still in Schindler's List costume.

[Stefen]

Sounds like something Spielberg would make NOW.

[MacGuffin]

"I pardon you!"

[private witt]

I don't know who you are, but if you sleep with my daughter I will find you, and I will film you.

[Stefen]

"Thrust with more force."

[private witt]

"I don't know who you are, but if you don't let my _______ go, I will find you, and I will kill you."

Optional scenarios for 'Taken':

Daughter (the current one)
people (Biblical version)
Linux (freeware version)
Allspark (energon cube version)
ark/stones/holy grail/skull (Dr. J version)

Anyone care to add?