Taken (2008)

A retired CIA agent travels across Europe and relies on his old skills to save his estranged daughter, who has been kidnapped while on a trip to Paris.

Director:

Pierre Morel

Writers:

Luc Besson, Robert Mark Kamen

Stars:

Liam Neeson, Maggie Grace, Famke Janssen

2 wins & 2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
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

Storyline

Seventeen year-old Kim is the pride and joy of her father Bryan Mills. Bryan is a retired agent who left the Central Intelligence Agency to be near Kim in California. Kim lives with her mother Lenore and her wealthy stepfather Stuart. Kim manages to convince her reluctant father to allow her to travel to Paris with her friend Amanda. When the girls arrive in Paris they share a cab with a stranger named Peter, and Amanda lets it slip that they are alone in Paris. Using this information an Albanian gang of human traffickers kidnaps the girls. Kim barely has time to call her father and give him information. Her father gets to speak briefly to one of the kidnappers and he promises to kill the kidnappers if they do not let his daughter go free. The kidnapper wishes him "good luck," so Bryan Mills travels to Paris to search for his daughter and her friend.

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Plot Keywords:

france | rescue | sex trafficking | revenge | woman in jeopardy | 

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Taglines:

They've taken his daughter. Now, he's taking them down.

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Genres:

Action | Crime | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

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

Did You Know?

Trivia

Former Special Air Service (SAS) soldier Mick Gould trained Liam Neeson in combatives and weapons handling skills to prepare him for the role.

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Goofs

When Kim makes a phone call just before getting kidnapped, she describes the man as having a beard. When Bryan hears this recording on the plane, it's changed to mustache, and again in a later scene when Bryan is listening to the recording it's beard.

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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: If you don't mind.
Singh: You know where it is.
Bryan: Oh yeah.

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Alternate Versions

Some of the shoot outs, the torture scene and some fisticuffs have been shortened in length for the film's US release to secure a PG-13 rating. The run time difference to the international version is about three minutes.

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Connections

Referenced in Workaholics: Wedding Thrashers (2015)

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Soundtracks

Happy Birthday
Written by Patty S. Hill (as Patty Hill), Mildred J. Hill (as Mildred Hill)
(c) 1935 Summy Birchard Music Company
Courtesy of Warner Chappell Music France

User Reviews

Neeson is the vodka of James Bond's martini

The most thrilling movie I've seen in a long time. Neeson is what we would fear if James Bond went to hell and came back for revenge (I doubt big budget Quantum of Solace will top this). I loved Jason Bourne; but where Bourne is confused for half the movie, Neeson is looking down a barrel of a pistol 3/4 of the time. In a three way spy battle, I would put Neeson edging out Bourne, who would be a step ahead of Bond.

Between the jaw-dropping action sequences was the subject matter of international trafficking, which was pretty miserable to watch. Although killing is wrong, death was never more satisfying to watch.

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official site [United States]

Country:

France USA UK

Language:

English French Albanian Arabic

Release Date:

30 January 2009 (USA)

Also Known As:

Taken

Filming Locations:

Avenue des Champs-Élysées, Paris 8, Paris, France

Box Office

Budget:

$25,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$24,717,037, 1 February 2009

Gross USA:

$145,000,989

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$226,837,760

Company Credits

Production Co:

EuropaCorp, M6 Films, Grive Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

90 min 93 min (unrated)

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1