Taken

If you take equal parts of The Bourne Identity and Denzel's Man on Fire you would create the formula that Taken uses. The movie plays out like Jason Bourne's retirement years. A retired special government operative has his daughter kidnapped so he uses his unique set of skills to get her back. Although the movie combines two great movies it does not achieve the greatness that the other two movies achieved on their own. But that's not to say this isn't a good movie.

The movie was written by Luc Besson who was once a great director (La Femme Nakita, The Professional, 5th Element) but who now makes his living by writing screenplays (Transporter, Unleashed, Kiss of the Dragon). Luc Besson cranks out movie screenplays like Oscar Meyer churns out hotdogs. And although the end result always seems to be edible, I can only guess that he has some kind of plot device dart board that he uses to piece his stories together. His stories are always predictable and routine.

So back to Taken. Great acting. Liam Neeson is a brilliant actor and pulls off the retired action-star just fine. All of the other actors are just fodder for him to kick and punch so it doesn't really matter if they can act or not.

Overall, I recommend this film.

Rating: 8 out of 10