Taken

Taken

North American theatrical poster Directed by Pierre Morel Produced by Luc Besson Written by Luc Besson Robert Mark Kamen Starring Liam Neeson Famke Janssen Maggie Grace Xander Berkeley Holly Valance Katie Cassidy Music by Nathaniel Mechaly Cinematography Michel Abramowicz Editing by Frédéric Thoraval Taken is a 2008 French thriller/action film starring Liam Neeson, Famke Janssen, and Maggie Grace. It is based on a script by Luc Besson and Robert Mark Kamen and was directed by Pierre Morel. Neeson plays a retired Central Intelligence Agency operative who sets about tracking down his teenage daughter after she is kidnapped by slave traders while traveling in Europe. Contents [hide] Plot Bryan Mills (Liam Neeson) is a retired CIA operative called a "preventer", but most likely from the famed Special Activities Division. He has retired to spend more time with his 17-year-old daughter Kim (Maggie Grace), who now lives with his ex-wife Lenore (Famke Janssen) and her new wealthy husband Stuart (Xander Berkeley). When pop diva Sheerah (Holly Valance) comes to town, Bryan is hired for security. After the show, the diva is attacked, but Bryan disables the assailant and gets her safely out of danger. Thankful, the diva expresses some interest in Bryan’s daughter after learning that Kim wants to be a singer herself. The diva passes along her contact information.

The next day, Bryan discovers that Kim wants to take a vacation to Paris, France with her friend Amanda (Katie Cassidy). Despite his initial concerns about the trip, Bryan agrees to allow it, later discovering that their actual plan is to travel around Europe following U2. Arriving at the Paris airport, Kim and Amanda meet a charming Frenchman named Peter (Nicolas Giraud), who learns their address and reports it to an unseen associate. In the house, Kim receives a phone call from her father, which she answers in the bathroom. From the bathroom window she sees men entering the main room and abducting Amanda. Bryan is able to gain critical information about the kidnappers in the final moments after Kim is kidnapped by telling her to shout out everything about them that she notices. Briefly, Bryan talks to one of the kidnappers, warning him that unless Kim is released, he will pursue him and kill him, to which the kidnapper replies "good luck" before smashing the daughter's phone. Exploiting his government contacts and the business connections of his ex-wife’s husband, Bryan travels to Paris to find her, informed that the kidnappers are Albanian sex traffickers and that he has only 96 hours to recover his daughter before she will disappear forever, and that the local leader is a man named Marko. He uses digital photos from the smashed remains of Kim's phone to locate Peter, who is killed by a truck while trying to escape. He manages to save one of the kidnapped girls from the Albanians and she discloses to him the address of the house where the kidnappers are holding other girls. Bryan finds the house and several other abducted women including Amanda, who is dead from a forced overdose. Later, by torturing Marko, Bryan ascertains that Kim was sold to a man named Patrice Saint-Clair, who showed interest in making a profit from selling her because she is a virgin. After wreaking havoc in the streets of Paris, Bryan is hunted by the French authorities, including Bryan's old ally Jean-Claude (Olivier Rabourdin), who wants him to return to the United States. Undeterred, Bryan forces Jean-Claude to give him Saint-Clair's location by shooting Jean-Claude's wife in the arm and revealing he knows Jean-Claude received bribes for overlooking the trafficking. By impersonating Jean-Claude, Bryan gains entry to the building where new girls are being sold, and secures entry to one of the buyers’ viewing booths. He sees his daughter as she is displayed on the auction block. However, he is captured before he can engineer an escape for himself and his daughter. He manages to escape and find Saint-Clair, whom he kills after learning that his daughter is being taken by Qatari clients. Bryan manages to follow the car his daughter is being taken in to see her being taken away on a yacht. He jumps on to the ship from a bridge and kills everyone in his way, finally freeing his daughter. Back in the US, Kim is reunited with her mother. Bryan introduces Kim to Sheerah, having arranged an audition with her vocal coach. Cast * Liam Neeson as Bryan Mills * Maggie Grace as Kim Mills * Famke Janssen as Lenore * Xander Berkeley as Stuart * Katie Cassidy as Amanda * Olivier Rabourdin as Jean-Claude * Holly Valance as Sheerah * Jon Gries as Casey * David Warshofsky as Bernie * Nathan Rippy as Victor * Camille Japy as Isabelle * Nicolas Giraud as Peter * Gérard Watkins as Saint Clair

Production The film is produced by Luc Besson's Europacorp.[2] Distribution Taken premiered in France on February 27, 2008, with releases in the United Kingdom and United States following on September 26, 2008 and January 30, 2009, respectively. Reception On its opening day in the United States, the film grossed $9.4 million, scoring the best opening day ever for Super Bowl weekend.[3] As of March 13, 2009, the film had grossed $119,597,036 in the United States and Canada, and $192,652,546 worldwide, making it the highest-grossing film of 2009.[1] Although very profitable and successful with audiences as a whole, the movie has received mixed reviews from professional critics. Dan Kois of the Washington Post described the film as "a satisfying thriller as grimly professional as its efficient hero" and likens the action to the Bourne series. Derek Elley of Variety described the film as a "dumb, pedal-to-the-metal actioner." He added, "Besson alum Pierre Morel ... wisely doesn't give the viewer any time to ponder the string of unlikely coincidences in the script by Besson and regular scribe Robert Mark Kamen. From the actual kidnapping—breathlessly staged with Kim actually on the phone with dad—to Bryan arriving in Paris and immediately causing a pileup outside the airport, pic has the forward, devil-may-care momentum of a Bond movie on steroids." He criticizes, the "widescreen package is technically slick at all levels, and ditto the action choreography, in a cartoonish way."[4] Kenneth Turan, of the The Los Angeles Times, described the premise of Taken as "a brisk and violent action programmer that can't help being unintentionally silly at times... Obviously, Taken is not the kind of action film to spend much time worrying about its pedestrian script or largely indifferent acting, so it's fortunate to have Neeson in the starring role." He characterized Bryan Mills as "a relentless attack machine who is impervious to fists, bullets and fast-moving cars, he uses a variety of martial skills to knock out more opponents than Mike Tyson and casually kill those he doesn't KO."[5] The film has been frequently compared to the television series 24- with Neeson's character compared to Jack Bauer and Grace's to Kim Bauer. Xander Berkeley, who played George Mason on 24, also has a small role in the film.[6][7] References 1. ^ a b "Taken (2009)". Box Office Mojo. http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=taken.htm. Retrieved on 2009-03-13. 2. ^ Jaafar, Ali; Keslassy, Elsa (21 November 2008). "New French wave prefers genre films Morel, Leterrier, Aja lead new crop of directors". Variety. http://www.variety.com/index.asp?layout=print_story&articleid=VR1117996318&categoryid=25 23. Retrieved on 1 February 2009. 3. ^ McClintock, Pamela (31 January 2009). "Box office crown 'Taken' by Fox". Variety. http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117999391.html?categoryid=13&cs=1. Retrieved on 1 February 2009.

4. ^ Elley, Derek (13 March 2009). "Taken". Variety. http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117936489.html?categoryid=31&cs=1&query=taken. Retrieved on 31 January 2009. 5. ^ Turan, Kenneth (January 30, 2009). "Review: Taken". The Los Angeles Times. http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/reviews/la-et-taken30-2009jan30,0,5240736.story. Retrieved on 31 January 2009. 6. ^ http://media.www.mcgilltribune.com/media/storage/paper234/news/2009/03/04/AE/Action.Flick .Taken.Leaves.Moviegoers.Behind-3658170.shtml 7. ^ http://www.heraldextra.com/content/view/301257/147/ External links Sister project Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Taken (film) * Official Website * Download Taken