{"id":536,"date":"2009-01-30T01:31:55","date_gmt":"2009-01-30T07:31:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.allouttabubblegum.com\/main\/?p=536"},"modified":"2009-01-30T01:31:55","modified_gmt":"2009-01-30T07:31:55","slug":"taken-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/allouttabubblegum.com\/new-home\/taken-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Taken Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

Taken<\/strong> (2008)<\/p>\n

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Tagline: The time for revenge has come.<\/p>\n

Directed by Pierre Morel<\/p>\n

Starring Liam Neeson, Maggie Grace, Famke Janssen<\/strong><\/p>\n

Plot Synopsis<\/span><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Steven Seagal<\/a>\u2019s\u2013 er, Liam Neeson\u2019s daughter is kidnapped. Neeson heads to Europe to kill the kidnappers and rescue his daughter. Commando<\/a> in Europe.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Kain424\u2019s mini-Review<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Trying to work around people\u2019s general dislike of Seagal films, the producers of Taken disguise the film as something other than an action vehicle. This may or may not work in advertising, but the film still kicks all kinds of ass as Liam Neeson\u2019s Seagal butchers and tortures his way through France in an damn fine action flick. But watch the unrated version<\/span>.<\/p>\n

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Kain424\u2019s Review<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

The story is as basic as an 80s action film: the daughter is kidnapped, so the father (who is trained in all kinds of super secret special Steven Seagal<\/a> fighting and torturing techniques) goes off to save her. What is also very 80s\/early 90s is the action. Don\u2019t be fooled by any of the advertising, this film is a straight action piece. If it starred Dolph Lundgren<\/a>, then you\u2019d find it in the DTV section of your local video store. That\u2019s Hollywood\u2019s double standard for ya.<\/p>\n

The Action<\/strong>:<\/p>\n

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The action certainly delivers in Taken. What\u2019s best about it is that, aside from the Jeep chase\/explosion sequence, there is very little shaky-cam work here. We get a lot of people (including innocents) shot, beaten, stabbed, tortured by electric shock, and even run over.+5 points<\/p>\n

The film actually plays like a lot of DTV films I\u2019ve seen, with the guns never so loud and the explosions bright, but not overwhelming. The action is not meant to impress here so much as it is done as to reflect a gritty, realistic style like the Jason Bourne films. However, Neeson\u2019s Bryan Mills could probably kick Matt Damon\u2019s little ass any day of the week. Especially if that week was spent in France.<\/p>\n

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Liam Neeson<\/strong>:<\/p>\n

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Neeson moves up in the world here, playing Bryan Mills just as Steven Seagal<\/a> would have circa 1992. He\u2019s pretty deadened by the things he\u2019s had to do for the government and just wants to connect with his estranged daughter. But what\u2019s really cool about Bryan Mills is that he also learned how to beat anything out of anyone, and that includes their life or locations to sex slave auctions (you\u2019ll see what I mean). Neeson\u2019s tall frame and odd looks really sell his scariness, and when you see what he can do, you believe everything the guy says.<\/p>\n

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+4 points<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Conclusion<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s sad that in today\u2019s films we can no longer just have action stars. Sure, we still have Stallone<\/a> and Statham, but most of the action films of today are headlined by \u201cserious actors\u201d who spend a few weeks training and have to be covered with darkened sets, quick cuts, and shaky camera work. There was a time when action stars were hired because they looked the part and, more importantly, because they could probably actually do a lot of the things that they were depicted doing.<\/p>\n

That said, the film was still an excellent ride. It was bittersweet seeing a Seagal movie work so well, but it was sad that Seagal couldn\u2019t star in it. However, Liam is a good enough actor to make you believe what he\u2019s doing and I hope that they make some more of these films.<\/p>\n

9<\/strong> outta<\/span> 10<\/strong><\/p>\n

Discuss<\/a><\/p>\n

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Kain424’s Taken Review<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[1611],"class_list":["post-536","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews","tag-taken-review"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/allouttabubblegum.com\/new-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/536","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/allouttabubblegum.com\/new-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/allouttabubblegum.com\/new-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/allouttabubblegum.com\/new-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/allouttabubblegum.com\/new-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=536"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/allouttabubblegum.com\/new-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/536\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/allouttabubblegum.com\/new-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=536"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/allouttabubblegum.com\/new-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=536"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/allouttabubblegum.com\/new-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=536"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}