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 | cia | rescue | woman in jeopardy | teenage abduction | 

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Taglines:

They have taken his daughter. He will hunt them. He will find them. He will kill them.

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Genres:

Action | 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

All of Liam Neeson's character's ex-agency friends were played by actors who had previous roles in "spy" or "cop thriller" television shows and movies. Jon Gries played a major role in The Pretender (1996), Leland Orser was in both The Pretender (1996) and 24 (2001), and David Warshofsky had appeared in minor roles in numerous similar shows.

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Goofs

When Bryan is chasing the sheik's barge along the Seine in his car, he appears to be traveling at high rate of speed alongside the barge. The barge would likely be traveling around 5 knots, about the speed of a light jog. The speed limit for boats on the Seine is 15 knots, (about 17 mph), so even if the boat could somehow travel at the maximum speed for the river (which would be impossible for a boat like that), it would still be at a crawl for a car.

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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

The distributor made minor changes to secure a 15 certificate for the UK theatrical release. The UK theatrical cut is the same as the International Cut except for the torture scene, which was replaced with the PG-13 version to secure a 15 certificate. In the PG-13 version, clamps are attached to the chair. In the International Cut, they're attached to spikes which are stabbed into the victim's legs. The uncut International Cut was released with an 18 certificate on video. This censored UK version was also released theatrically in Ireland with a 15A certificate. The extended torture scene didn't affect the certificate on video, and the uncut International Cut was also released with a 15 certificate in Ireland (cinema and video certification systems are different in Ireland - a 15A at the cinema is equivalent to a 15 on video).

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Connections

Referenced in Modern Family: American Skyper (2015)

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Soundtracks

Yesterdays Are Gone
Written by Zachary Schaffer
K Music / KPM Music / Bad Ass Music

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

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