Action movie time, this one’s the first film from the Taken series starring Liam Neeson. Having recently announced his intention to stop making action films I thought it would be a good time to take a look at a few of his best action performances. So without further ado here’s my Taken Blu-ray Review.
- Taken (2008)
- UK Rating 18
- Discs: 1
- Released By 20th Century Fox
- Blu-ray Released: 9 February 2009
Plot
Bryan Mills (Liam Neeson) is a former CIA agent who finds himself trying to find a way back into his daughter’s life. His daughter lives a life of luxury with her mother and wealthy stepfather.
Mills agrees to allow his seventeen year old daughter to travel to Paris with her friend. However his worst nightmare is soon realised when she is taken. Fortunately Mills has the training and expertise required to track down the kidnappers, will he be in time? I let you find that out for yourself.
The story is written by Luc Besson & Robert Mark Kamen.
Style / Direction
If you like action films that move straight on to interesting stuff then Taken is definitely for you. It’s incredibly fast paced with car chases, fights and gunfire. In fact I lost count of how many people Liam Neeson’s character takes out or incapacitates, it well into double figures.
Directed by Pierre Morel, whilst the cinematography is handled by Michel Abramowicz.
Music / Audio Effects
Nothing particularly special but is more than adequate to help the action sequences feel tense and enjoyable. The music is provided by Nathaniel Méchaly.
Acting / Characters
This is a Liam Neeson film, he is the star and he is also the only outstanding performer. He has a great delivery of lines and he does have some pretty great one liners. He is convincing in all the action scenes which is why following the film his action career really took off. Having come late in his career to the action genre he has just recently announced that his action career will now come to a close as he is too old at age 65.
So Neeson is great but unfortunately the worst scenes in the film are actually the ones where his ex-wife and daughter appear. There are incredibly cringeworthy and badly acted and feel out of place with rest of the film.
Holly Valance plays a popstar but adds very little to the story. The bad guys are stereotypical bad guys and there are for sure an awful lot of them. That said they a least serve their purpose.
Conclusion: Taken (2008) Film Review
You may think I didn’t enjoy Taken that much but funnily enough I thoroughly enjoyed it. The film is at its best when focusing on Liam Neeson taking out the bad guys and at its worst concentrating on the family stuff. Thankfully the action scenes are extremely well executed and make for a thoroughly entertaining ride.
Make no mistake Taken is a must see for action movie fans and well worth a look for any film fan.
If you like my Taken blu-ray review you may want to check out these films:
Conclusion: Taken Blu-ray Review
Clearly the picture quality is not an issue being a 2008 released film so I’ll move on to the extras.
Now remember when I mentioned earlier I’d lost count of all the people being killed or injured, well I really couldn’t be bother re-watching to count. Well good news as one of the extras ‘Real Time Mission Intelligence’ keeps count as you watch, now that’s pretty neat. Oh I suppose you want to know the final count? Ok the final results are as follows: 33 Killed & 13 Injured.
There’s a decent making of feature that gives enough insight into the making of the film well the bits in English at least.
To be honest I’m more than happy with extras if only for the kill counter.
Note you can now buy all three Taken films in a nice boxset.
Extras
- Real Time Mission Intelligence – (Basically the whole film with a kill counter)
- Le Making of (18 mins)
- Avant Premiere (5 mins)
- Inside Action: Side by side comparisons
Popcorn Cinema Rating: Taken (2008)
MOVIE RATING: WELL WORTH WATCHING
BLU-RAY RATING: EXCELLENT
EXTRAS RATING: DECENT
POPCORN CINEMA: RECOMMENDED
Purchase Taken (2008) On Blu-ray
Taken (2008) blu-ray is available now, I’ve added a link below.
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Taken (2008) Trailer
For those of you yet to see the film I’ll leave you with a little taster…
Clip may not be representative of the Blu-ray version
That’s my Taken blu-ray review, if you have any thoughts on this film you can leave a comment over on our Facebook page.
Summary: Taken (2008) Blu-ray Review
Movie title: Taken (2008)
Duration: 89 mins
Director(s): Pierre Morel
Actor(s): Liam Neeson, Maggie Grace, Leland Orser, Jon Gries, David Warshofsky, Katie Cassidy, Holly Valance, Famke Janssen
Genre: Action
- Movie Rating
- Blu-ray Picture Rating
- Extras
Summary
Taken is a must see for action movie fans
