“Taken” is the type of film that could only be made in America: there are fistfights, chase sequences, and shootouts throughout. Don’t forget that body count either. And all this at the expense of believable characters, emotional depth, and most importantly, an interesting plot. Which makes it all the more curious that its director, Pierre Morel, is French.
Morel, whose directorial debut was the parkour-infused beat-‘em-up “District B13,” doesn’t stray far from what he knows best. “Taken” has a lot less parkour, but only marginally more intelligence.
It’s the story of spy-turned-retiree Bryan Mills (Liam Neeson), whose daughter Kim (Maggie Grace) finds her European vacation cut short by a gang of kidnappers with an eye for human trafficking. Her father, who happens to be on the phone with her at the time of said kidnapping, vows to do anything in his power to find her, all while promising some very nasty retribution.
Kim’s abduction, however, acts as little more than a plot device; its emotional impact is almost entirely glossed over. Yes, the mother and stepfather (Famke Janssen and Xander Berkeley) act as distraught as could be expected, but “Taken” doesn’t play to emotion, it goes straight for the jugular. Accordingly, Bryan’s reaction isn’t one of helpless mourning: he takes the first flight to Paris and puts on his brass knuckles.
The film’s early attempts at character-building not only suffer from contrived, uninteresting writing, but one scene in particular, in which Bryan tries his hand at concert security, is so absurd that it’s unintentionally comic. The script deserves the majority of the blame, but Maggie Grace isn’t doing herself any favors here. Her portrayal of 17-year-old Kim isn’t just distractingly bad, she plays the character far younger than she should, and Kim comes across frustratingly immature as a result.
Poor acting aside, the major flaw here doesn’t lie with the story itself but with its execution. The plot has been designed to maximize the potential for action sequences in favor of creating authentic characters. And at a slim 91 minutes, it has to choose one or the other. The result is a fairly one-dimensional cast that awkwardly steps out of the way to let the action take over.
The problem is, once it does, it’s not all that impressive. Sure, the gunfights are serviceable, and Bryan’s one-punch knockouts are entertaining at first, but there’s not a memorable scene to be had here. And one month from now, “Taken” won’t even be worth a second thought, because everything it does has been done before, and done better. The “Bourne” series, which has a similarly kinetic style, has it outgunned in terms of storyline, believability, interesting characters, and pure visceral fun.
A significant underlying factor here is that “Taken” tries to force its basic storyline, which has plenty of dramatic potential, into the narrow mold of an action film. Morel clearly understands how to shoot an action sequence; he doesn’t understand drama. He never succeeds in making the audience empathize with his characters in large part because he doesn’t try to. He’s content with using stock characters because they allow him room for more chase scenes, more fistfights, and more nameless henchmen being offed.
Which is a shame really, because “Taken” could have been so much more. Its central idea, and the story of an estranged father seeking redemption by finding his daughter, could have been the subject of a compelling drama. Take away the car chases, the bodies, and the breakneck pace; slow things down, let the man show how he’s feeling, give Neeson a chance to act. But Morel never takes his finger off fast-forward, and the film is all the worse for it.
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