How far would you go to save a loved one? What would you do? Who would you kill? Asking these questions, Taken originally opened in Europe before its US release; Parisian crowds were ecstatic for the brutal vision of director Pierre Morel and writer Luc Besson. But American audiences didn’t get to share in that vision. What came to American theaters was a limping watered down version of the film – consequently, critical and audience reception suffered. The Blu-ray release of Taken rectifies the theatrical mistake and gives audiences the choice between more or less brutality.
Bryan Mills (Liam Neeson) has played the role of absentee father in the life of his daughter Kim (Maggie Grace) thanks in large part to his career in the secret service. Working as a freelance security specialist, his contact with Kim has been reduced to that of the stricter, over-protective father who finds himself at odds with Lenore (Famke Janssen), his his ex-wife and Kim’s mother. Kim now lives with Lenore and her new husband Stuart (Xander Berkeley) – and yet needs the signature of Lenore and Bryan to go on a trip to Europe with her friend Amanda (Katie Cassidy). The two girls are in Europe for no longer than a day when some men break into their apartment and abduct them for sale into the black market slave trade. Luckily, Kim kept her wits about her as the abduction was taking place and gives Bryan the lead he needs to begin tracking her down. Bryan flies to Paris immediately and begins the process of hunting down the men who’ve taken his daughter.
Taken never slows down for a minute. An aged Liam Neeson seems unstoppable beyond his years and yet, while his physical fitness may take a slight strain of belief, his conviction never falters. Maybe he drew from his personal fears as a parent himself or maybe he simply reverted to his Rob Roy days – whatever the case, Liam Neeson quite plainly kicks ass. The best comparison available is to liken Bryan Mills to an aged Jason Bourne. Where that comparison ends, however, are the extremes each will go to for their cause. While both Jason Bourne and Bryan Mills are victims hunting down the ones who wronged them, Mills falls into a moral gray area in a way Bourne never did. It’s at this point, that the reader would do well to consider the two versions of the film: the American and the extended cut. The American edit takes out a good deal of the more graphic moments of torture – for some, that’s perfectly fine. They might not need that brutality to enjoy it as a feature film. But to understand the narrative and to have the character truly progress, you need the fully fleshed torture scenes offered in the extended cut. Slow and meticulous, Mills elicits every scream of pain and piece of intel available in his captured foe. The moments are gruesome but brilliant filmmaking for an action flick.
Famke Janssen, Xander Berkeley, Maggie Grace and Katie Cassidy may as well have been played by puppets. Taken is about Liam Neeson as Bryan Mills. Pure and simple. The postulation of what you’d do if your child was kidnapped may take you into fantasizing action scenes wherein you save a child from a warehouse full of bandits with automatic weapons – but Taken makes it all real. Liam Neeson makes it real.
Taken, the extended cut at least, is one of the best action films to have come from either side of the pond in the last decade. To Fox’s credit they had the sense to release the version that really matters.
Blu-ray Bonus Features
A rare occurrence to be sure, but the first edition release of Taken on Blu-ray has a respectable heaping of extra features (the kind which usually accompany a release six months to a year down the road. First, we have a digital copy of the film (included on a separate disc) allowing you to download the movie to your laptop or iPod for viewing on the go. Second, we have another extra feature mainstay of two commentaries for the extended cut of the film. The first commentary (the more interesting of the two) features the director, cinematographer Michel Abramowicz and car stunt supervisor Michel Julienne. The second commentary is a one-man show with Besson’s co-writer Robert Mark Kamen, who has paired with Besson numerous times before on films like The Transporter and The Fifth Element. Also on the commentary front, we the “Black Field Ops Manual” which has a window within the film explaining some of the technologies used in the film – interesting, but not enough that it warrants interrupting the film. Finally we have three featurettes, two of which are “behind-the-scenes” themed and another which shows crew and audience reactions at Taken’s premiere.
Taken got the shaft in its theatrical release, so it’s nice to see it getting better treatment on Blu-ray. This will make a fairly nice purchase if only because it offers the extended cut, the extra features are just additional icing on the cake.
"Taken" is on sale May 12, 2009 and is rated PG13. Action, Drama, Thriller. Directed by Pierre Morel. Written by Luc Besson, Robert Mark Kamen. Starring Liam Neeson, Maggie Grace, Katie Cassidy, Xander Berkeley, Famke Janssen.
