I was intrigued by the excellent ads for "Taken" starring Liam Neeson. as Bryan Mills, talking to the kidnappers of his daughter in that calm voice of his and explaining to them that if they don't let his daughter go, he will find them and kill them with the "special set of skills" he's developed over a lifetime as a "preventer of bad things" for the U.S. government.

I think it was the juxtaposition of Liam Neeson, one of the most intelligent actors working today, and the explicit threat of violence that caught my attention. Interesting combination--like walnuts and Brie.

Taken is essentially a remake of Commando--bad guys take good guy's daughter, good guy goes berserk on them, but filmed in the now default style of the Bourne movies. Its entirely predictable, even mawkish in some places. I've had a seventeen year old daughter--the balance of irritation to affection is tilted far more towards the former than the latter.

Nevertheless, there are some arresting scenes in this movie. The cell phone conversation between father and daughter as she's being kidnapped is brilliant and will probably be imitated many times now. Mills' (Neeson) dinner with a former French colleague, now haute fonctionnaire in the security apparatus of France is also very memorable (I won't spoil it for you...)

The real debt "Taken" owes to the Bourne movies isn't the fight scenes, but the casting. Just as Matt 'Opie' Damon was just weird as Jason Bourne at first, Neeson is hardly the first guy you think of for a Rambo movie. Neither actor is what I would call menacing, and Neeson accentuates the surprise of his raging bad self with the tenderness he displays so convincingly towards his daughter in the first part of the movie (and at the end). In a sense, he is the anti-Bond. Whereas James Bond reveals the occasional glimpses of humanity, Bryan Mills reveals the occasion glimpses of savagery present in average, civilized man.

"Taken" is rated PG-13 for its "Gladiator-like", implied violence and profanity-free dialogue (unless you speak French, where the curses flow freely and are not faithfully transcribed in the sub-titles...)

Are you entertained? Are you entertained?

Yes. Yes I was.