Taken
There is nothing you can say to me that gets me out of this unnerving and passionate crush. In fact, my heart wanes with loneliness as my fantasies wrap themselves around them. Adorned walls with his face on them, I am captivated by his essence. His brooding Irish accent, his muscles and his complete masculinity, ready to leap off the rooftops of Turkey, sweep me in his mane and take me on a far off plane journey. That hero is Liam Neeson and though he recently turned 62, he is still hot stuff. No one will take that away from me. No one.
His departure in the suave action hero romps can be pinned on one film and one film only, Taken. Liam Neeson stars as Bryan Mills, an ex CIA operative who is enjoying his retirement and entwining his relationship with his daughter Kim. Kim wants to go on holiday to Paris with her friend Amanda and reluctantly, he lets her go thought wants to keep an eye on her in an over protective way. But Kim and Amanda have deceived him and aren’t going to Paris at all. Instead, they are following U2 around on a European tour. Unfortunately, all of Bryan’s fears are justified when she is removed in the titular sense.
Why Is It Bad?
It’s action yarn. Unless you are particular persuaded by gun totting bad-asses then it will work for you. For people like me, the constant gun fights and reliance on car chases can make me want to switch off. Yes there are some awesomely gruesome deaths here the storyline is a flat as anything, making you care even less about the characters apart from Neeson’s Mills. Plus they play fast and loose with a rather important story line because they want the fast paced action rather and never fully develop the script into something meaty and significant.
Why Is It Good?
“I don't know who you are. I don't know what you want. If you are looking for ransom, I can tell you I don't have money. But what I do have are a very particular set of skills, skills I have acquired over a very long career. Skills that make me a nightmare for people like you. If you let my daughter go now, that'll be the end of it. I will not look for you, I will not pursue you. But if you don't, I will look for you, I will find you, and I will kill you.”
Yes. Yes I did just quote the entire monologue as my reasoning for why it is good. Because frankly, it is all summed up in the most spoken and joked about action film line of recent times. Heck, of all time. You just have to say a very particular set of skills and all of a sudden people are husky Irishmen hunting down their wanted goods. Liam Neeson holds this film together, it is all about his ruthless and merciless mission to get his daughter back. It propelled him from drama and voice actor into sexy sleuthing action hero and with Taken 3 in the pipeline, it’s not a status he is going to let go of any time soon.