Eye Candy #132 - "Taken"

Taken: One more entry into that most venerable of genres – revenge/action thriller. Liam Neeson is Bryan, a retired spook of some sort (his specific background, who he worked for, what he did, is kept fairly hazy) who is trying to reconnect with his teenage daughter, whose life he missed while he was out in the world doing the things spooks do. He lets her go on a trip to Paris with a friend, and almost immediately they are kidnapped by sex slavers (we’re talking MINUTES within landing at the airport). He goes into spook mode to track down the people who kidnapped his daughter, so he can save her and kill them. Not really exceptional for its type. The plot asks you to believe in some serious contrivances (Bryan, for being a hardened killer that has traveled the world, is almost as naïve as a child) with an unnecessary subplot involving a Britney Spears-like pop singer. The villains are barely fleshed out beyond their ethnicity and for making them so sinister initially, Bryan tears them apart in 72 hours so that is underwhelming. It’s watchable, sure, but probably not worth repeat viewing. Woodchuck sez, “Worth at least one look.”