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

The map that Bryan is holding, when he finds out about the girls' plans at the airport at the beginning of the movie, is an old Europe map (probably dated 1992), as the now dissolved Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia can clearly be seen. Czechoslovakia separated into two independent countries, Czech Republic and Slovak Republic, in 1993. Yugoslavia was dissolved in 1992.

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Goofs

When Mills looks at the pictures on his daughter's cell phone chip, the computer says 'center' to center the image. In France, center would be spelled 'centre.'

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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

Spoofed in Robot Chicken: Yogurt in a Bag (2016)

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Soundtracks

XTC
Written by Pauline De Saxe, Jonathan Latorre
Performed by Pauline De Saxe
(c) Tms Sl
(p) 2007 - Soundjuice Records / Tms Sl
Courtesy of Soundjuice Records

User Reviews

Probably the fastest 93 minutes of my life !

Wow - I had already read reviews of this movie, and with the writer being one of my favourite directors, Luc Besson, I just had to go see this movie as soon as possible...

I was not disappointed... I'm not sure if this was intentional but there were no trailers before the movie, so being thrown strait into the film unexpectedly with people whispering "is this it then ?" only helping build up some initial tension and excitement.

The film starts nicely, but with overtones of spy thrillers like "Day of the Jackal" coming to mind. Neeson seems a bit pityful at the start, but soon overturns that impression with a taste of his handywork after around ten minutes of the thriller.

Then, before you know it, it's over. 93 minutes, gone in a blur of fighting, fear, chasing and excitement at serious pace. The artwork and direction is nicely done, giving you the feeling of being the one attacking and the chair squirming feeling of being the poor gits who get annihilated in almost every way possible.

It was one of those films that I wanted to applause after the film, I actually clapped about three times, but no-one joined in... too afraid of being the only two people clapping I suppose...

Neeson was great, and I can't wait to see the movie many more times. I only gave it 9 out of 10, as it was too short ! The film could have been easily stretched to 2 hours in my opinion, with some more development and intimacy with the characters. But I guess this may have not made it so exciting... still, well worth the money to see this in the big screen.

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