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DVD Corner: Taken
By Rebekah Hendershot |
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 Even Liam Neeson can’t save them all. And in this case, you have to wonder why he’s trying.
The soft-spoken Irish star seems an unlikely choice for the lead role in Taken, a by-the-book, revenge-driven shoot-’em-up that recalls something Charles Bronson might have done in the 1980s or Steven Seagal in the 1990s. Did the former boxer just miss hitting people so much that he signed on with Luc Besson and company? There are no clues; Taken saves its screen time for fight scenes, not characterization, and there are few hints at why anyone is doing anything on-screen, let alone off.
In a premise that doesn’t seem to notice its own absurdity, Neeson plays Bryan Mills, a retired CIA “preventer” who quit the cloak-and-dagger life to be closer to his estranged teenage daughter (Maggie Grace of “Lost”). You have to wonder what kind of family he’s trying to build when his major job and social skills consist of breaking bones, putting bullets in brains and applying electrical equipment in ways not intended by the manufacturer. Call it a License to Void the Warranty.
When Mills isn’t taking freelance security jobs (cue the spoiled pop star) or trying to win his daughter’s love (cue the awkward birthday party scene), he is worrying like a hypochondriac in an AIDS ward. Every aspect of his daughter’s life, from her stepfather’s financial records to the warranty on her karaoke machine, goes under the microscope to protect her from perceived threats. This meets with no more than token opposition from Mills’ ex-wife (Famke Janssen), with the textbook warning that he’ll push the girl away forever if he doesn’t let her grow up. It’s a halfhearted One to Grow On moment all around as the daughter leaves for Paris.
Then the daughter gets kidnapped as a sex slave by grimy Albanians hungry for American virgins. All worry is justified, and it’s time for the violence.
 As Neeson blasts through the rest of the film, crashing cars, shooting up brothels and doing every imaginable form of harm to his fellow man, it’s hard to keep from snickering. Credit where it’s due—the fight scenes are very well done. But once Neeson gets his daughter’s kidnappers on the phone and snarls a detailed threat, the character of Bryan Mills becomes a robot, and it’s hilarious to watch a man supposedly motivated by parental love blow through extras like the Terminator. The more you see, the less you want this man near anyone’s kids, let alone his own.
You’d think this was some kind of snide commentary on American foreign policy, but director Pierre Morel is an alumnus of projects by Luc Besson, who co-wrote Taken’s screenplay with Robert Mark Kamen. So there probably isn’t anything there. This film isn’t deep; it’s shallow over two continents. The one notable story that came out of the production was that Morel encouraged stuntmen to try to hit Neeson if they got a chance during the fight scenes, to make sure everyone was fighting as fast and as realistically as possible. The result is a blinding barrage of kicks, punches, wrenches, gunshots and everything else. You can believe that nobody hit the implacable hero, but you have to wonder why you’re watching him.
Perhaps the missed opportunities are the worst. The scene where Mills rescues a young prostitute who resembles his daughter has the potential to develop his character, but even his tender admission that he’s on family business is cut short once the exposition’s over. Enough talking, Taken seems to say. Time to strangle someone.
 The Taken single-disc extended cut DVD (Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment, MSRP: $29.98) eschews the customary DVD extras. That’s right, there are none. Zip. Zilch. Nada. There are French, Spanish and English dialogue tracks and subtitles. There is a scene selection menu. There are trailers for unrelated films. And that’s it. No audio commentary, no making-of doc and no mini-docs gassing on about how the stunts were arranged.
A two-disc extended cut DVD (MSRP: $34.98) does exist, though, and includes not only the theatrical and unrated versions of the film on the first disc, but also two audio commentaries on the unrated cut: one with director Pierre Morel, cinematographer Michel Abramowicz and Michel Julienne, and the other with writer Robert Mark Kamen. There’s also a fairly detailed making-of featurette featuring interviews with the cast and crew, a look at the movie’s premiere (which comically features English subtitles for the French-speaking crew members interviewed about the film and French subtitles for Liam Neeson) and side-by-side comparisons of six action scenes in the film. For those who can't get enough of Taken’s nonstop action, a digital copy of the movie can be found on the second disc for portable players. Sadly, though, there are no deleted scenes or outtakes anywhere to be found, not even on the two-disc extended cut Blu-ray version (MSRP: $39.99), which also lists a Black OPS Field Manual among its special features.
For hardcore fight fans and Luc Besson aficionados, Taken is James Bond, Jason Bourne and every Stallone, Seagal and Van Damme movie rolled into one. It’s got the stunning action sequences of Kiss of the Dragon and Unleashed and the vehicular mayhem of The Transporter. But try as he might, Neeson rarely manages to rise above his script, and Taken never takes viewers anywhere we haven’t been before.
Taken is now available on DVD and Blu-ray.
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