Taken (2008/I)

Director:

Pierre Morel

Writers (WGA):

Luc Besson (written by) &
Robert Mark Kamen (written by)

Release Date:

30 January 2009 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Crime | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

They took his daughter. He'll take their lives.

Plot:

A former spy relies on his old skills to save his estranged daughter, who has been forced into the slave trade.

Plot Keywords:

Stepfather | Agent | Screaming | Stealing Car | Raspberry Banana Milkshake

Awards:

1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

Liam Neeson	...	Bryan Mills
Maggie Grace	...	Kim
Leland Orser	...	Sam
Jon Gries	...	Casey
David Warshofsky	...	Bernie
Holly Valance	...	Sheerah
Katie Cassidy	...	Amanda
Xander Berkeley	...	Stuart
Olivier Rabourdin	...	Jean-Claude
Gérard Watkins	...	St-Clair
Famke Janssen	...	Lenore
Marc Amyot	...	Pharmacist
Arben Bajraktaraj	...	Marko
Radivoje Bukvic	...	Anton (as Rasha Bukvic)
Mathieu Busson	...	Undercover agent

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence, disturbing thematic material, sexual content, some drug references and language.

Runtime:

93 min

Country:

France

Language:

English | French | Albanian | Arabic

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital

Certification:

South Korea:18 | Netherlands:12 | USA:PG-13 (cut version) | Australia:MA | UK:15 (edited version) | New Zealand:R16 | Ireland:15A | South Africa:16LV | Peru:14 | Argentina:16 | France:-12 | Brazil:16 | UK:18 (DVD rating) | Portugal:M/16 | Finland:K-15 | Chile:Y7 | Germany:16 | Sweden:15 | Singapore:NC-16 | Philippines:PG-13 (MTRCB) | Canada:14A (Alberta/British Columbia/Manitoba/Ontario) | Norway:15 (uncut version) | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Canada:18A (Manitoba) (DVD rating) | Ireland:18 (DVD rating) | USA:Unrated (DVD rating) (uncut version) | Hong Kong:IIB | Denmark:15 | Austria:16 | Iceland:16 | Japan:PG-12 | Mexico:B15

Filming Locations:

Paris, France

Company:

Europa Corp.

Trivia:

The martial art style used by Liam Neeson is Nagasu Do. It's a hybrid martial art style that borrows from Judo, Aikido and Ju Jitsu.

Goofs:

Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): Bryan poses as a corrupt French official and tells some Albanian crooks that they are being monitored by a satellite 200 miles overhead. As an experienced former spy, Bryan should have known to say "kilometers", not "miles". As Europeans, the crooks should have immediately recognized that no Frenchman would use "miles" to describe distance.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Singh: Mr. Mills, how are you?
Bryan: I'm fine. How are you?
Singh: Very fine. I suppose you want to see it again?
Bryan: You should know why I'm here.
Singh: You know where it is.
Bryan: Oh yeah.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "The Rotten Tomatoes Show: Miss March/Race to Witch Mountain/Sunshine Cleaning (#1.3)" (2009)

Soundtrack:

Tick, tick, boom

It doesn't get much better.

A no nonsense, kick the crap out of everyone who gets in your way action movie. Liam Neeson's character is the angry love child of Bourne,Bond and all the other pretenders put together. If I was asked to cast the movie I guess he wouldn't have been my first choice but having seen it I can't think of anyone else I'd rather have in the role. The fight choreography is bone crunchingly good. This is one kick ass flick and one I will definitely buy on DVD. There's little doubt who the bad guys are and they get a very satisfactory smack in the mouth - when they aren't being shot or electrocuted. This was made by people who like the genre and know how to get an action movie from A to Z. I can't help but giggle at those reviews that mention plot and probability in this kind of movie. What kind of movie did they think they were going to see?