Movie Review - "Taken"

Liam Neeson gives an absolutely memorable performance as an uncompromising moral avenger. He acts in the tradition of the earlier James Bond series and earlier Mickey Spillane novels. He is confronted by evil and he sets out to overcome the evil with all force, skill, and wits necessary. His revenge on evil is appropriate for the extent and depth of the evil.

No doubt, some admirers of the movie would class it as adventure, cops and robbers or who done it, and think no more about it. But the underlying theme of Taken is far deeper than that. Neeson is placed in a life and death situation that demands quick, REASONED, action. He uses force, even torture, to the extent necessary to get lifesaving information. But all his actions are aimed at an ultimate goal—his daughter's rescue from a life of slavery, prostitution, and, in short order, death.

When my wife and I saw the movie, we both said, We wish young people, especially young women, would see the movie and have the living hell scared out of them. This sentiment was not to be mean or petty. Rather, it expressed our concern that many, especially young people, believe they are immortal and are thus far too oblivious of the evil in the world. The proper reaction is not to be shocked speechless or rendered comatose by the realization of the evil of the movie. Instead, the realization should be that proper actions, reasonable precautions, can usually negate the power of evil.

When people underestimate the potential power of evil, they make the often fatal mistake of not leaving evil to its own devices. This mistake seems more prominent among Americans than other people in the world.

Examples of Neeson's use of a reasoned, logical approach in his quest to save his daughter include:

1. At her apartment in Paris, he retrieves her cell phone. From a phone picture of the daughter and her friend, he sees the reflection of the young scoundrel who took her picture and serves as a shill. He obviously is the one who lets his associates know of residences of intended victims.
2. Even though Neeson apprehends the young man, he escapes and is killed by traffic. Next, from former CIA contacts who have reviewed voices on the daughter's cell phone, they give him clues about the kidnappers. They are from a new, ruthless Albanian gang that has gone big into white slavery.
3. When Neeson finds the gang's headquarters, he initially poses as a corrupt cop, wanting an additional payoff. This ruse confirms that his ex-friend, now on the Paris police force, is on the take with the gang. Next, he fools the gang by asking all of them to help him translate an Albanian phrase. He hears all of them say, Good luck, and realizes which one of the gang taunted him earlier, when the kidnapper spoke into his daughter's cell phone.
4. When Neeson confronts the corrupt cop, he has already removed bullets from the gun in his home.

Neeson kills quite a few of the Albanian gang and the senior gang who auction off the kidnapped victims. Neeson follows through, all the way to the (likely) Saudi arch scoundrel who has purchased the short term sexual services of his virginal daughter. The final scoundrel, the owner of the yacht who won the sexual auction, reacts appropriately like a trapped rat. His cry, while holding Neeson's daughter at knife point, is We can negotiate. For Neeson, the answer is No, we can't, and the would-be slavemaster receives his richly deserved award of death.

If I would have added any section to the script of Taken, I would have had Neeson describe graphically to his daughter the death of her even more foolish friend. I didn't see this inclusion. Again, this would have been for the purpose of stating forcefully the consequences of foolish actions and lack of thought.

To me, the movie Taken richly deserves a 5 star rating.

Norman E. Hill, FSA, MAAA, Member AICPA, ASCPA
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