Jump to content
IGNORED

Taken - Liam Neeson

Goose

By Goose
in Film, TV & Radio

 Share

Recommended Posts

Jimmyzilla

Jimmyzilla

Posted
Posted

Really good film, it seems like Bourne really has changed these kinds of action films!

Couple of nitpicky bits though (but they could have just been explained off screen i guess)

how did the police not catch him at the airport after the spotter died and how did he manage to leave France despite making all that mess!? :lol:

Link to comment
Share on other sites
mr_woo

mr_woo

Posted
Posted

Absolutely loved this and have watched it a few times now.

The story is extremely silly and the way Liam Neesons character finds the bad guys is a bit 'stupid-bad-guys-r-us' but the reason the film works is simply because of how good Liam Neeson is in the role. He's a wonderful, intense actor and you fully believe that he will do anything to find his daughter. It's not really the sort of role he does often but he kicks ass and takes names.

I see it's been given a PG-13 rating in the US and i'm wondering if anythings been cut out for it. The film definitely came across as an R rated film whilst watching it but thinking about it there's very little blood and next to no swearing. I could see the

torture sequence

giving the MPAA trouble as well as Neeson using various implements to kill people with :lol:

My favourite part was (Dont read unless you've seen the film as it rocks)

during the very last fight with the main mans henchman, the way Neeson uses a broken bottle to stab him in the arm and then the chest, breaks the guys arm and then grabbing the guys hand with knife in it and kneeing it right into his chest twice - just to be sure ;)

As for the actual screener just to note that it's a korean dvdscreener with hardcoded korean subtitles, I keep reading it's a thai screener when it's not, the subtitles are definitely korean.

I'll be the first in line to buy this on dvd when it appears and to also see it in the cinema (as long as it's not edited)

Definitely recommended if you like Liam Neeson/more grounded action films.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
aidey6

aidey6

Posted
Posted

I uttered a very audible 'OMG' when Neeson shot that French dude's wife. That was so cold, so calculated, so 'DON'T FUCK WITH ME, YOU FRENCH CUNTFLAP'! Very unexpected, yet at the same time, very in character. Loved it, loved it, loved it.

Famke Jansen's character was a bit of a cunt, though.

This bit reminded me of season 5 of 24

when Jack Bauer broke into Christopher Hendersons house and shot Mrs Henderson in her leg

Link to comment
Share on other sites
heroes for sale

heroes for sale

Posted
Posted

I'm not sure what else I expected from another Luc Besson produced action film, but this was very poor. It would've been forgettable, straight-to-dvd rubbish if it weren't for Neeson, who at his best seemed like he was simply trying too hard not to seem ridiculous. Not even the bourne-lite action sequences could save it.

For anyone prepared to defend the film, feel free to answer the following...

Why did the Albanians believe he was a french narc, despite Neeson having a thick American accent and only a business card as proof of ID?

Why was his daughter a complete dithering tool?

How did Neeson manage to travel back to the US and lead a normal life after killing half of Paris?

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Secondspace

Secondspace

Posted
Posted
I'm not sure what else I expected from another Luc Besson produced action film, but this was very poor. It would've been forgettable, straight-to-dvd rubbish if it weren't for Neeson, who at his best seemed like he was simply trying too hard not to seem ridiculous. Not even the bourne-lite action sequences could save it.

For anyone prepared to defend the film, feel free to answer the following...

Why did the Albanians believe he was a french narc, despite Neeson having a thick American accent and only a business card as proof of ID?

Why was his daughter a complete dithering tool?

How did Neeson manage to travel back to the US and lead a normal life after killing half of Paris?

Dramatic license. I assumed that they were supposed to be speaking in French.

She's supposed to be 17.

Train to Belgium, catch a plane from there back to the US.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
mr_woo

mr_woo

Posted
Posted
I'm not sure what else I expected from another Luc Besson produced action film, but this was very poor. It would've been forgettable, straight-to-dvd rubbish if it weren't for Neeson, who at his best seemed like he was simply trying too hard not to seem ridiculous. Not even the bourne-lite action sequences could save it.

Whilst it's fair enough you didn't like the film I wouldn't say the action was Bourne lite at all. In fact I'd say Neesons character had some more brutal fights compared to anything in Bourne, especially in the last 30mins or so. Plus at least in this I could what was actually happening (unlike in Bourne Supremacy and Ultimatum where Greengrass believes that shaking the camera is a good thing for some reason). Don't get me wrong I'm not hating on Bourne as I love the films but the action in this I find just as believable if not more so as I think Neeson is a much better actor than Damon.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Secondspace

Secondspace

Posted
Posted
Whilst it's fair enough you didn't like the film I wouldn't say the action was Bourne lite at all. In fact I'd say Neesons character had some more brutal fights compared to anything in Bourne, especially in the last 30mins or so. Plus at least in this I could what was actually happening (unlike in Bourne Supremacy and Ultimatum where Greengrass believes that shaking the camera is a good thing for some reason). Don't get me wrong I'm not hating on Bourne as I love the films but the action in this I find just as believable if not more so as I think Neeson is a much better actor than Damon.

I was surprised at how good Neeson was to be honest. I know he's a good actor, but he seemed to be giving this 100%, when I thought he might just be taking the money, especially as Besson does have a bit of a reputation for knocking out the action flicks these days.

There's not much point picking holes in the plot either, because I can't think of many action films that don't throw logic out the window at times. This carried it off, which is the tricky bit.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
mr_woo

mr_woo

Posted
Posted
I was surprised at how good Neeson was to be honest. I know he's a good actor, but he seemed to be giving this 100%, when I thought he might just be taking the money, especially as Besson does have a bit of a reputation for knocking out the action flicks these days.

There's not much point picking holes in the plot either, because I can't think of many action films that don't throw logic out the window at times. This carried it off, which is the tricky bit.

He's purely the reason I enjoyed the film so much. I can't argue with heroes for sales points on the films plot etc as the story is so fucking silly you could drive trucks through the holes. But the main thing was that I believed Neesons character could and would kill those people brutally to find his daughter and Neeson carried off the action scenes fantastically and with style.

I'd love to see him do some more action films as he doesn't really do them that often.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Jimmyzilla

Jimmyzilla

Posted
Posted
I'm not sure what else I expected from another Luc Besson produced action film, but this was very poor. It would've been forgettable, straight-to-dvd rubbish if it weren't for Neeson, who at his best seemed like he was simply trying too hard not to seem ridiculous. Not even the bourne-lite action sequences could save it.

For anyone prepared to defend the film, feel free to answer the following...

Why did the Albanians believe he was a french narc, despite Neeson having a thick American accent and only a business card as proof of ID?

Why was his daughter a complete dithering tool?

How did Neeson manage to travel back to the US and lead a normal life after killing half of Paris?

I thought about that too but forgot to mention it in my previous post,

Second, it showed how sheltered his daughter is, especially with her step father buying her a horse

Finally, I said this before but it could be explained away by him doing a deal with the French authorities selling out all of the internal affairs for having links to the prostitution ring, presumably he still had other contacts he could have talked to to make something happen.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
The Boatman

The Boatman

Posted
Posted
I'd love to see him do some more action films as he doesn't really do them that often.

Batman Begins? Phantom Menace? Darkman? Michael Collins? Rob Roy? He's done quite a few. Apparently he's doing v/o for Fallout 3 too!

Also, his hair in this is fabulous.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
mr_woo

mr_woo

Posted
Posted
Batman Begins? Phantom Menace? Darkman? Michael Collins? Rob Roy? He's done quite a few. Apparently he's doing v/o for Fallout 3 too!

Also, his hair in this is fabulous.

I mean more where he's the lead, he's a supporting role in Batman Begins and Phantom Menace. Michael Collins isn't an action film though I guess Darkman and Rob Roy would be the closest.

I know he's in that Patrick Swayze flick Next Of Kin though I'm not sure how big of a role he has in that (never seen it)

Link to comment
Share on other sites
mr_woo

mr_woo

Posted
Posted
Watched the first 15mins or so and it seemed like a made for tv movie. Should maybe give it another chance later but the start is really terrible.

It really picks up after the first 20 - 30mins or so which is just to set the scene so to speak. After that it's ass kickings galore.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Monkeyboy

Monkeyboy

Posted
Posted
Watched the first 15mins or so and it seemed like a made for tv movie. Should maybe give it another chance later but the start is really terrible.

Stick with it. It's fucking great. It may have something to do with me watching it cold, no trailers, no background info, but there's no denying that Neeson kicks all sorts of ass.

My favourite Neeson line(s) in the entire movie is this one, as...

he picks up the phone and begins to talk to the kidnapper:

"I don't know who you are. But I do know what you want. If you're 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 that 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."

After the above line, I was sold, and knew I was in for a good time. Definitely a DVD purchase for me when it comes out.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • 2 weeks later...
Goose

Goose

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Thoroughly enjoyable! Neeson made the film completely, anyone else would have overplayed it too much but he was right combination of desperate father and cold blooded motherfucker you're likely to see. You could literally see when he became the guy he used to be. At no time did it seem too ridiculous, I believed Neeson could find these people and make them suffer, no questions asked.

I was half expecting

His mates to be more involved, like he'd be on the phone every 10 minutes to them or they'd show up after he was captured but thankfully they kept well clear of that and just used them to establish how bad ass Neeson was

And it was amazingly brutal as well, hell of a lot of dead people about thanks to Neeson!!

It is a tiny bit slow to start but I think it needed it be because once it kicks off there's barely 2 minutes where it's not action packed or ready to be action packed. Neeson owned this film.

Great bit

Talking to those Albanian fucks in that littler room, when the guy said "Good Luck" and Neeson knew it was him who took his daughter

Brutal bit

I actually gasped when he shot the French copper's wife!!!

Excellent/10. Look forward to getting a proper version when its released.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Corleth the Fey

Corleth the Fey

Posted
Posted

Man - Woo! That was all kinds of ace! Liam just kicked some serious ass. I love a good action film, especially were the 'hero' goes even further than the nasty schoolboy (who pulls the legs off of spiders) inside you can imagine. No spoilers - but why hit someone once, when you can do it five times! Brutal Combo!

Neeson on the phone and then the payback line later in the film. o/\o

All round class.

And the first 20 mins boring? Famke and Holly were heavy involved in it. I wasn't bored - I was in love!

I'm going see this again and pay this time. AS LONG AS THERE'S NO CUTS!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
MDY

MDY

Posted
Posted

Saw this yesterday - excellent.

Yes the plot doesn't hold up if you look too closely, but as an action film it's outstanding.

Neesons character is terrifying in his brutality, but you're cheering him on all the way.

Certainly earns him a place in the top movie badass list after that.

Definate DVD purchase :wub:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share
Go to topic listing

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue. Use of this website is subject to our Privacy Policy, Terms of Use, and Guidelines.

  I accept