Taken

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Liam Neeson is a former government agent named Bryan, whose dumb teenage daughter insists on going on an unsupervised trip to Europe with her friend.  Almost immediately after they arrive, they’re targeted by kidnappers who break into their apartment and take them away to be sold into prostitution.  As that’s happening, the daughter is able to call Bryan and give a brief description of the kidnappers.  After that, things get nuts.  Bryan flies to Europe, leverages some of the connections he has from his former profession and starts killing the people involved, while trying to track down and rescue his daughter.

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The movie is completely implausible, but never takes itself too seriously.  Bryan is a complete badass in the vein of Jason Bourne, no big gun battles, just a lot of breaking limbs and snapping necks.  His daughter is annoying and stupid and I’m glad she’s kidnapped and absent for most of the movie.

My favorite part of the movie is a phone exchange between Bryan and the kidnapper, immortalized in the trailer and TV spots for the movie:

Bryan: I don’t know who you are. I don’t know what you want. If you are looking for ransom, I can tell you I don’t have money. But what I do have are a very particular set of skills; skills I have acquired over a very long career. Skills that make me a nightmare for people like you. If you let my daughter go now, that’ll be the end of it. I will not look for you, I will not pursue you. But if you don’t, I will look for you, I will find you, and I will kill you.

It’s a mindless, good time, for sure, and Liam Neeson is excellent.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

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