Taken

In the movie Taken, Liam Neeson plays Bryan Mills who is a retired special ops agent who's daughter is kidnapped by a human trafficking and prostitution ring while she is visiting Paris. He is forced to put his skills into action as he attempts to locate and rescue her before a 96 hour window closes. Since much of this movie takes place in France it has the same European feel as the Bourne series. I also could have sworn it had the exact same sound track during the many action scenes.

If you like seeing middle aged men beat the crap out of bad guys then this movie is for you. It is very intense and violent and it has been quite a while since I found myself so riveted to a movie. This was written by Luc Beeson but has a much more realistic feel to it than his Transporter movies. There is the obligatory inability of bad guys to shoot the hero at close range with machine guns, but I have given up on this criticism since almost every action movie I have ever seen if guilty of it.

Maggie Grace was very convincing as the clueless 17 year old daughter, but Liam Neeson steals the show. During some moments he is cool headed and calm as Quigon Jin, but at other times he unleashes his fury in a precise and controlled fashion. The main thing I learned from watching this movie is that you don't mess with Liam Neeson's daughter. I could relate to his vengeful anger. He gives John McClane, Jason Bourne, and Jack Bauer, a run for their money This was one of the better movies I have seen in a while. I give it 8.2 out of 10 stars.