Taken (film)
Encyclopedia
Taken is a 2008
action
thriller film produced by Luc Besson
, starring Liam Neeson
, Maggie Grace
, and Famke Janssen
. The screenplay is written by Besson and Robert Mark Kamen
, and was directed by Pierre Morel
. Neeson plays Bryan Mills, a former Central Intelligence Agency
SAD
operative who sets about tracking down his daughter after she is kidnapped by Albanian
sex traders
while travelling in France
.
) has retired in an effort to build a closer relationship with his 17 year old daughter, Kim (Maggie Grace
). His frequent absences made him a distant father and led to his divorce. Knowing Kim wants to be a singer, Bryan buys her an expensive karaoke
machine for her 17th birthday, which she is pleased with. Kim's wealthy stepfather Stuart (Xander Berkeley
), however, upstages Bryan when he surprises her with a horse
. Later, Bryan's former CIA colleague, Sam (Leland Orser
), hires him to help provide concert security for a pop singer, Sheerah (Holly Valance
). While backstage before the concert, Bryan voices Kim's interest in becoming a singer, to which Sheerah offhandedly replies, "Tell her to pick another career." After the concert, a mob of fans rush through an open gate and security men hold them back while Bryan escorts Sheerah to the waiting vehicle. A knife-wielding assailant attacks Sheerah and Bryan quickly disarms him and calls Casey, another guard to hold him. Sheerah then gratefully offers to help with Kim's musical aspirations if she has talent.
The next day, Bryan's ex-wife, Lenore (Famke Janssen
) and Kim set up a lunch in order to persuade Bryan to sign a visa form to allow Kim to travel to Paris
with her friend Amanda (Katie Cassidy
), claiming that it is to visit museums. Bryan refuses because he believes Kim is too young and naïve to be traveling around Paris with only a 19-year old for company; Kim runs from the table in tears. After Lenore implores him further, he agrees on the condition that Kim follow a strict set of rules he has set for her himself. To his consternation, he discovers at the airport that the girls actually intend to follow U2's Vertigo Tour
around Europe
and that Lenore knew this all along. However, he decides to let her go when Lenore tells him that the only reason he wasn't aware of the situation is because Kim can't be honest with him.
Shortly after arriving in Paris
, Kim and Amanda meet Peter (Nicolas Giraud
), a charming and handsome Parisian stranger who suggests sharing a taxi from the airport. He learns that they are staying alone in Amanda's cousins' apartment and invites them to a party later that evening and after parting, Peter phones someone and passes along information about the girls. Kim, not knowing that she and Amanda would be alone in the apartment, inquires as to where the cousins are. Amanda says the cousins are on vacation in Spain
and tells Kim about her plans to have sex with Peter.
Bryan calls Kim and complains that she did not call him. While they are speaking on the phone, Kim sees several men enter the apartment and abduct
Amanda and reveals that they shared the taxi with Peter. Bryan starts recording the call, and instructs Kim to hide under the bed and to shout out information about the kidnappers when they come for her. She yells out the description of the men as she is taken. Afterward, Bryan realizes that someone has picked up the phone and is listening, and tells him that if he lets his daughter go, he will not pursue them, but if they do not, he would look for, find, kill them." The listener coldly replies, "Good luck" and destroys the phone. Bryan sends the recording to Sam to have it analyzed; he determines that the abductors are likely part of the Albanian Mafia
, which specializes in sex slavery
by kidnapping young female tourists. Sam says that the man Bryan spoke to is Marko Hoxha, a mobster boss and tells Bryan and Lenore a chilling statistic that they have a rescue window of 96 hours (four days), after which their chances of finding Kim will be lost. Utilizing Stuart's connections with plane leasing company NetJets
, Bryan flies to Paris that very evening.
Upon arrival, he heads to the apartment, where he finds his first clue: a photograph of Peter on the memory card of Kim's smashed cellphone. He finds Peter as he is charming another potential victim, a young Swedish girl named Ingrid outside the airport. Bryan forces his way into a cab with Peter and punches him in the ribs several times cracking them while he attempts to interrogate him when Peter's co-spotter attacks him. Bryan violently subdues him by punching him in the windpipe and chases after Peter as he escapes. After a short chase, Peter is struck and killed by a truck on the highway after jumping from the overpass. Bryan then seeks help from an old friend, Jean-Claude (Olivier Rabourdin), a former field agent with French Intelligence who currently works a desk job. Jean-Claude tells Bryan that the Albanian Mafia has been moving into Paris in large numbers over the years. He then tells Bryan where to start looking, but warns him not to make a mess, soon after he calls someone to tail Bryan. Bryan hires an Albanian-English interpreter, and, to get the attention of the Albanian mobsters, accosts a prostitute, causing one of the mobsters to come over and demand money for two lost clients, not noticing when Bryan plants a listening device on the back of his collar. Using the interpreter, he follows the mobster to a construction site and poses as a worker to enter a makeshift brothel there. After searching he comes across a young, very heavily doped up girl who has his daughter's jacket draped over a chair in her cubicle and takes her with him. After a lengthy car chase, during which several Albanian mobsters are killed and a trailer is destroyed, Bryan loses them, as well as the tail Jean-Claude had secretly placed on him. He checks in at an inn named Hotel Camelia run by a friend and administers an IV to counteract the drugs in the girl's system.
Jean-Claude demands a meeting with Bryan out in the open by the river. When Jean-Claude arrives, his cell phone rings. It is Bryan saying he doesn't trust meeting Jean-Claude until he gets Kim back. Jean-Claude says his boss hit the roof over the construction site violence and has barely been convinced to authorize a first-class airline ticket to send Bryan back to America for previous services aiding the French government rather than arrest him. Bryan angrily refuses. Meanwhile, Jean-Claude's men have been triangulating the source of Bryan's phone call and home in on its location. There they find a cell phone rigged with a walkie talkie. Bryan is actually on the roof of the nearby Notre Dame de Paris
. Back in the inn, the rescued girl awakens and tells Bryan the address of the house where she met Kim and got the coat. Bryan bluffs his way in using Jean-Claude's business card and pretending to be a corrupt policeman looking for a bribe. He identifies Marko Hoxha by tricking him into saying "good luck", knocks him out and kills all the other gangsters. Searching the upstairs of the house, he finds many dead girls in each room, one of them being Amanda, who died apparently from an overdosage
of heroin with her hand cuffed to the bed.
Enraged by what he has discovered, Bryan ties Marko to a makeshift electric chair
in the basement and interrogates him. Marko's stubbornness and refusal to answer questions breaks under continuous and extremely painful electric shocks and he reveals that Kim was a highly valuable virgin and was sold to a slave dealer named Patrice Saint-Clair (Gérard Watkins
). Satisfied that Marko has been honest with him, Bryan says a grim statement, turns on the electricity and walks out, leaving Marko to die in anguishing pain.
Needing more information, Bryan goes to Jean-Claude's home where his wife Isabel is preparing dinner. Jean-Claude admits to accepting bribes to look the other way and tries to force Bryan at gunpoint to give up his search. However, Bryan, who arrived at the home ahead of Jean-Claude, has taken the bullets out of the gun. He then draws his own pistol and shoots Isabel in the arm to pressure Jean-Claude into giving up Saint-Clair's address. Isabel suffers a flesh wound whilst Jean-Claude retrieves information on Saint-Clair from the home computer. Bryan then knocks Jean-Claude out cold and proceeds his search for Kim.
Bryan impersonates a police commissioner to enter an exclusive party at Saint-Clair's mansion, and locates a secret slave auction in the basement where a group of buyers are present. When he sees Kim being the last product, he forces an Arab buyer to purchase her, but is knocked unconscious before he can get away. He awakens handcuffed to a steam pipe. After learning Bryan's motives and stating that he sympathizes, Saint-Clair orders him to be killed quietly and leaves. Bryan frees himself, kills Saint-Clair's henchmen, and forces Saint-Clair to divulge Kim's whereabouts by shooting him in the leg and both shoulders. Saint-Clair says she will be brought to a yacht on the Seine
owned by an Arabian Shiekh, whom the henchman works for. He pleads for his life, saying that it was only business and not personal. Bryan reveals it was all personal to him then empties the remaining bullets into him. As he leaves the mansion, he sees Kim being forced into a car and driven away. He pursues the car on foot, and sees that Kim had been moved onto a yacht. He kills the driver of the car Kim was in and pursues the yacht using it. He stops on a bridge and jumps aboard as the boat passes under and kills the guards. After a vicious hand-to-hand fight with the buyer (now revealed to be the boss' assistant) he had intimidated earlier, he enters the master bedroom, where he finds the Sheikh named Raman holding a knife to Kim's neck. Raman offers a negotiation, but Bryan shoots him in the head with great precision. Reunited with his daughter, Bryan tells a hysterical Kim that he promised he would come for her.
After Kim is reunited with Lenore and Stuart back in Los Angeles, the film concludes with Bryan surprising Kim with a visit to Sheerah's house to help her launch a singing career.
. Recognizable locations in the movie are Staples Center
, Los Angeles International Airport
in L.A. In Paris, shooting locations were near the Eiffel Tower
, the Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport, Fouquet's restaurant and the Pont des Arts
.
stated that the film's United States distributor, 20th Century Fox
, forced him to re-edit this film for its US theatrical release so it could receive a PG-13 rating. Later, 20th Century Fox released the original version as an 'Extended Cut' on DVD and Blu-ray. The 'Extended Cut' has more violence which was cut from the US theatrical release.
The film has been compared to the television series 24
: with Neeson's character compared to Jack Bauer
and Grace's role of Kim Mills to Kim Bauer
. Xander Berkeley, who played George Mason on 24, also has a small role in the film.
The movie, which received mixed reviews from professional critics, stands at a "Rotten" 58% rating on Rotten Tomatoes
, with the site's critical consensus stating [that] "Taken is undeniably fun with slick action, but is largely a brainless exercise." Time Magazine said the movie "has nothing more on its mind than dozens of bad guys getting beat up and another one turned into instant roadkill." The Washington Post described the film as "a satisfying thriller as grimly professional as its efficient hero" and likened the action to the Jason Bourne series.
Variety
described the film as a "kick ass, pedal-to-the-metal actioner [...] that wisely doesn't give the viewer any time to ponder the string of unlikely coincidences [...] the film has the forward, devil-may-care momentum of a Bond movie on steroids."
The Los Angeles Times described the premise of Taken as "a brisk and violent action programmer that can't help being unintentionally silly at times [...] Obviously, Taken is not the kind of action film to spend much time worrying about its pedestrian script or largely indifferent acting, so it's fortunate to have Neeson in the starring role." Bryan Mills is characterized as "a relentless attack machine who is impervious to fists, bullets and fast-moving cars, he uses a variety of martial skills to knock out more opponents than Mike Tyson and casually kill those he doesn't KO
."
Taken was released on DVD in May 2009. As of March 2011, 4,426,766 copies of the film had been sold generating US$68,544,181 in sales.
. The film is scheduled to be released in the beginning of October 2012. Liam Neeson, Famke Janssen and Maggie Grace have signed on to reprise their roles from the first film. Filming began in October 2011. The plot of the film is still unknown.
In 2011, a self-proclaimed counter-terrorism
expert who claimed the film was based on a real-life incident that killed his daughter was convicted of wire fraud
. William G. Hillar, who pretended to be a retired Green Beret
colonel, claimed to have spent more than 12 years lecturing US government agencies such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation
on security issues. However, records revealed he had only been a radarman in the Coast Guard Reserve
between 1962 and 1970, and had never been in the US Army. Nevertheless his website claimed Taken was based on events involving him and his family. Hillar, who admitted the charges, was sentenced to 500 hours of community service at Maryland State Veteran Cemetery. He also agreed to repay $171,000.
2008 in film
This is a list of all major films made in 2008.-Highest-grossing films:Please note that following the tradition of the English-language film industry, these are the top grossing films that were first released in the USA in 2008...
action
Action film
Action film is a film genre where one or more heroes is thrust into a series of challenges that require physical feats, extended fights and frenetic chases...
thriller film produced by Luc Besson
Luc Besson
Luc Besson is a French film director, writer, and producer. He is the creator of EuropaCorp film company. He has been involved with over 50 films, spanning 26 years, as writer, director, and/or producer.-Early life:...
, starring Liam Neeson
Liam Neeson
Liam John Neeson, OBE is an Irish actor who has been nominated for an Oscar, a BAFTA and three Golden Globe Awards.He has starred in a number of notable roles including Oskar Schindler in Schindler's List, Michael Collins in Michael Collins, Peyton Westlake in Darkman, Jean Valjean in Les...
, Maggie Grace
Maggie Grace
Margaret Grace Denig , best known as Maggie Grace, is an American actress. Originally from Worthington, Ohio, she dropped out of high school to move to Los Angeles with her mother after her parents' divorce. While struggling financially, she landed her first role as the title character in the...
, and Famke Janssen
Famke Janssen
Famke Beumer Janssen is a Dutch actress and former fashion model. She is known for playing the villainous Bond girl Xenia Onatopp in GoldenEye and Jean Grey/Phoenix in the X-Men film series .- Early life and education :...
. The screenplay is written by Besson and Robert Mark Kamen
Robert Mark Kamen
Robert Mark Kamen is a screenwriter who has been writing major motion pictures for over twenty-five years. He is best known as creator and co-creator of the Karate Kid and Transporter franchises, as well as the 2009 action thriller Taken....
, and was directed by Pierre Morel
Pierre Morel
-Movie career:After spending his formative years in cinema school, Pierre Morel debuted in 2000 as camera operator with the first Richard Berry's film L'Art de la séduction....
. Neeson plays Bryan Mills, a former Central Intelligence Agency
Central Intelligence Agency
The Central Intelligence Agency is a civilian intelligence agency of the United States government. It is an executive agency and reports directly to the Director of National Intelligence, responsible for providing national security intelligence assessment to senior United States policymakers...
SAD
Special Activities Division
The Special Activities Division is a division in the United States Central Intelligence Agency's National Clandestine Service responsible for covert operations known as "special activities"...
operative who sets about tracking down his daughter after she is kidnapped by Albanian
Albanians
Albanians are a nation and ethnic group native to Albania and neighbouring countries. They speak the Albanian language. More than half of all Albanians live in Albania and Kosovo...
sex traders
Sexual slavery
Sexual slavery is when unwilling people are coerced into slavery for sexual exploitation. The incidence of sexual slavery by country has been studied and tabulated by UNESCO, with the cooperation of various international agencies...
while travelling in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
.
Plot
Highly-trained and skilled CIA black ops agent Bryan Mills (Liam NeesonLiam Neeson
Liam John Neeson, OBE is an Irish actor who has been nominated for an Oscar, a BAFTA and three Golden Globe Awards.He has starred in a number of notable roles including Oskar Schindler in Schindler's List, Michael Collins in Michael Collins, Peyton Westlake in Darkman, Jean Valjean in Les...
) has retired in an effort to build a closer relationship with his 17 year old daughter, Kim (Maggie Grace
Maggie Grace
Margaret Grace Denig , best known as Maggie Grace, is an American actress. Originally from Worthington, Ohio, she dropped out of high school to move to Los Angeles with her mother after her parents' divorce. While struggling financially, she landed her first role as the title character in the...
). His frequent absences made him a distant father and led to his divorce. Knowing Kim wants to be a singer, Bryan buys her an expensive karaoke
Karaoke
is a form of interactive entertainment or video game in which amateur singers sing along with recorded music using a microphone and public address system. The music is typically a well-known pop song minus the lead vocal. Lyrics are usually displayed on a video screen, along with a moving symbol,...
machine for her 17th birthday, which she is pleased with. Kim's wealthy stepfather Stuart (Xander Berkeley
Xander Berkeley
Alexander Harper "Xander" Berkeley is an American actor. His roles include George Mason on the television series 24.-Early life:Berkeley was born in Brooklyn, New York, but has lived most of his life in New Jersey...
), however, upstages Bryan when he surprises her with a horse
Horse
The horse is one of two extant subspecies of Equus ferus, or the wild horse. It is a single-hooved mammal belonging to the taxonomic family Equidae. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million years from a small multi-toed creature into the large, single-toed animal of today...
. Later, Bryan's former CIA colleague, Sam (Leland Orser
Leland Orser
Leland Jones Orser is an American film and television actor. Orser is a character actor, whose career has included playing a number of deranged, psychotic, and degenerate characters. Orser has appeared in small roles in a wide variety of films and television shows, including Chief of Surgery Dr...
), hires him to help provide concert security for a pop singer, Sheerah (Holly Valance
Holly Valance
Holly Valance is an Australian actress, singer, and model, who has dual United Kingdom citizenship. Valance began her career as Felicity "Flick" Scully on the Australian soap opera Neighbours...
). While backstage before the concert, Bryan voices Kim's interest in becoming a singer, to which Sheerah offhandedly replies, "Tell her to pick another career." After the concert, a mob of fans rush through an open gate and security men hold them back while Bryan escorts Sheerah to the waiting vehicle. A knife-wielding assailant attacks Sheerah and Bryan quickly disarms him and calls Casey, another guard to hold him. Sheerah then gratefully offers to help with Kim's musical aspirations if she has talent.
The next day, Bryan's ex-wife, Lenore (Famke Janssen
Famke Janssen
Famke Beumer Janssen is a Dutch actress and former fashion model. She is known for playing the villainous Bond girl Xenia Onatopp in GoldenEye and Jean Grey/Phoenix in the X-Men film series .- Early life and education :...
) and Kim set up a lunch in order to persuade Bryan to sign a visa form to allow Kim to travel to Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
with her friend Amanda (Katie Cassidy
Katie Cassidy
Katherine Evelyn Anita "Katie" Cassidy is an American actress who has performed in The CW TV series Melrose Place, Supernatural, Harper's Island, and Gossip Girl, and on the films When a Stranger Calls, Black Christmas, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Taken, Monte Carlo, and has roles in the upcoming...
), claiming that it is to visit museums. Bryan refuses because he believes Kim is too young and naïve to be traveling around Paris with only a 19-year old for company; Kim runs from the table in tears. After Lenore implores him further, he agrees on the condition that Kim follow a strict set of rules he has set for her himself. To his consternation, he discovers at the airport that the girls actually intend to follow U2's Vertigo Tour
Vertigo Tour
The Vertigo Tour was a worldwide concert tour by the Irish rock band U2. Launched in support of the group's 2004 album How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb, the band visited arenas and stadiums from 2005 through 2006. The Vertigo Tour consisted of five legs that alternated between indoor arena shows in...
around Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
and that Lenore knew this all along. However, he decides to let her go when Lenore tells him that the only reason he wasn't aware of the situation is because Kim can't be honest with him.
Shortly after arriving in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, Kim and Amanda meet Peter (Nicolas Giraud
Nicolas Giraud
Nicolas Giraud is a French actor. He had a significant role in the movie Taken. He has also appeared in at least 10 other movies, and a number of television episodes. He was the writer and director of Faiblesses .-External links:*...
), a charming and handsome Parisian stranger who suggests sharing a taxi from the airport. He learns that they are staying alone in Amanda's cousins' apartment and invites them to a party later that evening and after parting, Peter phones someone and passes along information about the girls. Kim, not knowing that she and Amanda would be alone in the apartment, inquires as to where the cousins are. Amanda says the cousins are on vacation in Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
and tells Kim about her plans to have sex with Peter.
Bryan calls Kim and complains that she did not call him. While they are speaking on the phone, Kim sees several men enter the apartment and abduct
Kidnapping
In criminal law, kidnapping is the taking away or transportation of a person against that person's will, usually to hold the person in false imprisonment, a confinement without legal authority...
Amanda and reveals that they shared the taxi with Peter. Bryan starts recording the call, and instructs Kim to hide under the bed and to shout out information about the kidnappers when they come for her. She yells out the description of the men as she is taken. Afterward, Bryan realizes that someone has picked up the phone and is listening, and tells him that if he lets his daughter go, he will not pursue them, but if they do not, he would look for, find, kill them." The listener coldly replies, "Good luck" and destroys the phone. Bryan sends the recording to Sam to have it analyzed; he determines that the abductors are likely part of the Albanian Mafia
Albanian mafia
The Albanian Mafia or Albanian organized crime are the general terms used for criminal organizations based in Albania or composed of ethnic Albanians. Albanian organized crime is active in Albania, the United States, and the European Union countries, participating in a diverse range of criminal...
, which specializes in sex slavery
Human trafficking
Human trafficking is the illegal trade of human beings for the purposes of reproductive slavery, commercial sexual exploitation, forced labor, or a modern-day form of slavery...
by kidnapping young female tourists. Sam says that the man Bryan spoke to is Marko Hoxha, a mobster boss and tells Bryan and Lenore a chilling statistic that they have a rescue window of 96 hours (four days), after which their chances of finding Kim will be lost. Utilizing Stuart's connections with plane leasing company NetJets
NetJets
NetJets, a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway, offers fractional ownership and rental of private business jets.-History:NetJets Inc., formerly Executive Jet Aviation, was founded in 1964 as one of the first private business jet charter and aircraft management companies...
, Bryan flies to Paris that very evening.
Upon arrival, he heads to the apartment, where he finds his first clue: a photograph of Peter on the memory card of Kim's smashed cellphone. He finds Peter as he is charming another potential victim, a young Swedish girl named Ingrid outside the airport. Bryan forces his way into a cab with Peter and punches him in the ribs several times cracking them while he attempts to interrogate him when Peter's co-spotter attacks him. Bryan violently subdues him by punching him in the windpipe and chases after Peter as he escapes. After a short chase, Peter is struck and killed by a truck on the highway after jumping from the overpass. Bryan then seeks help from an old friend, Jean-Claude (Olivier Rabourdin), a former field agent with French Intelligence who currently works a desk job. Jean-Claude tells Bryan that the Albanian Mafia has been moving into Paris in large numbers over the years. He then tells Bryan where to start looking, but warns him not to make a mess, soon after he calls someone to tail Bryan. Bryan hires an Albanian-English interpreter, and, to get the attention of the Albanian mobsters, accosts a prostitute, causing one of the mobsters to come over and demand money for two lost clients, not noticing when Bryan plants a listening device on the back of his collar. Using the interpreter, he follows the mobster to a construction site and poses as a worker to enter a makeshift brothel there. After searching he comes across a young, very heavily doped up girl who has his daughter's jacket draped over a chair in her cubicle and takes her with him. After a lengthy car chase, during which several Albanian mobsters are killed and a trailer is destroyed, Bryan loses them, as well as the tail Jean-Claude had secretly placed on him. He checks in at an inn named Hotel Camelia run by a friend and administers an IV to counteract the drugs in the girl's system.
Jean-Claude demands a meeting with Bryan out in the open by the river. When Jean-Claude arrives, his cell phone rings. It is Bryan saying he doesn't trust meeting Jean-Claude until he gets Kim back. Jean-Claude says his boss hit the roof over the construction site violence and has barely been convinced to authorize a first-class airline ticket to send Bryan back to America for previous services aiding the French government rather than arrest him. Bryan angrily refuses. Meanwhile, Jean-Claude's men have been triangulating the source of Bryan's phone call and home in on its location. There they find a cell phone rigged with a walkie talkie. Bryan is actually on the roof of the nearby Notre Dame de Paris
Notre Dame de Paris
Notre Dame de Paris , also known as Notre Dame Cathedral, is a Gothic, Roman Catholic cathedral on the eastern half of the Île de la Cité in the fourth arrondissement of Paris, France. It is the cathedral of the Catholic Archdiocese of Paris: that is, it is the church that contains the cathedra of...
. Back in the inn, the rescued girl awakens and tells Bryan the address of the house where she met Kim and got the coat. Bryan bluffs his way in using Jean-Claude's business card and pretending to be a corrupt policeman looking for a bribe. He identifies Marko Hoxha by tricking him into saying "good luck", knocks him out and kills all the other gangsters. Searching the upstairs of the house, he finds many dead girls in each room, one of them being Amanda, who died apparently from an overdosage
Drug overdose
The term drug overdose describes the ingestion or application of a drug or other substance in quantities greater than are recommended or generally practiced...
of heroin with her hand cuffed to the bed.
Enraged by what he has discovered, Bryan ties Marko to a makeshift electric chair
Electric chair
Execution by electrocution, usually performed using an electric chair, is an execution method originating in the United States in which the condemned person is strapped to a specially built wooden chair and electrocuted through electrodes placed on the body...
in the basement and interrogates him. Marko's stubbornness and refusal to answer questions breaks under continuous and extremely painful electric shocks and he reveals that Kim was a highly valuable virgin and was sold to a slave dealer named Patrice Saint-Clair (Gérard Watkins
Gérard Watkins
Gérard Watkins is an English-French actor, perhaps best known for his role in the 2009 film Taken as Patrice Saint Clair, the sex trafficking kingpin that runs the operation that kidnapped the protagonist's 17-year old daughter.He is fluent in both English and French.-External links:...
). Satisfied that Marko has been honest with him, Bryan says a grim statement, turns on the electricity and walks out, leaving Marko to die in anguishing pain.
Needing more information, Bryan goes to Jean-Claude's home where his wife Isabel is preparing dinner. Jean-Claude admits to accepting bribes to look the other way and tries to force Bryan at gunpoint to give up his search. However, Bryan, who arrived at the home ahead of Jean-Claude, has taken the bullets out of the gun. He then draws his own pistol and shoots Isabel in the arm to pressure Jean-Claude into giving up Saint-Clair's address. Isabel suffers a flesh wound whilst Jean-Claude retrieves information on Saint-Clair from the home computer. Bryan then knocks Jean-Claude out cold and proceeds his search for Kim.
Bryan impersonates a police commissioner to enter an exclusive party at Saint-Clair's mansion, and locates a secret slave auction in the basement where a group of buyers are present. When he sees Kim being the last product, he forces an Arab buyer to purchase her, but is knocked unconscious before he can get away. He awakens handcuffed to a steam pipe. After learning Bryan's motives and stating that he sympathizes, Saint-Clair orders him to be killed quietly and leaves. Bryan frees himself, kills Saint-Clair's henchmen, and forces Saint-Clair to divulge Kim's whereabouts by shooting him in the leg and both shoulders. Saint-Clair says she will be brought to a yacht on the Seine
Seine
The Seine is a -long river and an important commercial waterway within the Paris Basin in the north of France. It rises at Saint-Seine near Dijon in northeastern France in the Langres plateau, flowing through Paris and into the English Channel at Le Havre . It is navigable by ocean-going vessels...
owned by an Arabian Shiekh, whom the henchman works for. He pleads for his life, saying that it was only business and not personal. Bryan reveals it was all personal to him then empties the remaining bullets into him. As he leaves the mansion, he sees Kim being forced into a car and driven away. He pursues the car on foot, and sees that Kim had been moved onto a yacht. He kills the driver of the car Kim was in and pursues the yacht using it. He stops on a bridge and jumps aboard as the boat passes under and kills the guards. After a vicious hand-to-hand fight with the buyer (now revealed to be the boss' assistant) he had intimidated earlier, he enters the master bedroom, where he finds the Sheikh named Raman holding a knife to Kim's neck. Raman offers a negotiation, but Bryan shoots him in the head with great precision. Reunited with his daughter, Bryan tells a hysterical Kim that he promised he would come for her.
After Kim is reunited with Lenore and Stuart back in Los Angeles, the film concludes with Bryan surprising Kim with a visit to Sheerah's house to help her launch a singing career.
Cast
- Liam NeesonLiam NeesonLiam John Neeson, OBE is an Irish actor who has been nominated for an Oscar, a BAFTA and three Golden Globe Awards.He has starred in a number of notable roles including Oskar Schindler in Schindler's List, Michael Collins in Michael Collins, Peyton Westlake in Darkman, Jean Valjean in Les...
as Bryan Mills - Maggie GraceMaggie GraceMargaret Grace Denig , best known as Maggie Grace, is an American actress. Originally from Worthington, Ohio, she dropped out of high school to move to Los Angeles with her mother after her parents' divorce. While struggling financially, she landed her first role as the title character in the...
as Kim Mills - Famke JanssenFamke JanssenFamke Beumer Janssen is a Dutch actress and former fashion model. She is known for playing the villainous Bond girl Xenia Onatopp in GoldenEye and Jean Grey/Phoenix in the X-Men film series .- Early life and education :...
as Lenore "Lennie" Mills - Xander BerkeleyXander BerkeleyAlexander Harper "Xander" Berkeley is an American actor. His roles include George Mason on the television series 24.-Early life:Berkeley was born in Brooklyn, New York, but has lived most of his life in New Jersey...
as Stuart - Katie CassidyKatie CassidyKatherine Evelyn Anita "Katie" Cassidy is an American actress who has performed in The CW TV series Melrose Place, Supernatural, Harper's Island, and Gossip Girl, and on the films When a Stranger Calls, Black Christmas, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Taken, Monte Carlo, and has roles in the upcoming...
as Amanda - Leland OrserLeland OrserLeland Jones Orser is an American film and television actor. Orser is a character actor, whose career has included playing a number of deranged, psychotic, and degenerate characters. Orser has appeared in small roles in a wide variety of films and television shows, including Chief of Surgery Dr...
as Sam - Olivier Rabourdin as Jean-Claude
- Holly ValanceHolly ValanceHolly Valance is an Australian actress, singer, and model, who has dual United Kingdom citizenship. Valance began her career as Felicity "Flick" Scully on the Australian soap opera Neighbours...
as Sheerah - Jon GriesJon GriesJonathan Francis "Jon" Gries is an American actor, writer and director. He is also credited under the names Jon Francis and Jonathan Gries. He is known for his role in Napoleon Dynamite as Uncle Rico, and more recently as recurring character Roger Linus on Lost...
as Casey - David WarshofskyDavid WarshofskyDavid Warshofsky is an American film and television actor.-Life and career:Warshofsky was born in Saratoga, California. There is some dispute about this. Other sources, some self-contradictory, have listed his place and date of birth as San Francisco in 1961 or 1959, in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and...
as Bernie - Nathan Rippy as Victor
- Camille Japy as Isabelle
- Ahmed Hadubai as Billionaire
- Nicolas GiraudNicolas GiraudNicolas Giraud is a French actor. He had a significant role in the movie Taken. He has also appeared in at least 10 other movies, and a number of television episodes. He was the writer and director of Faiblesses .-External links:*...
as Peter - Arben Bajraktaraj as Marko
- Gérard WatkinsGérard WatkinsGérard Watkins is an English-French actor, perhaps best known for his role in the 2009 film Taken as Patrice Saint Clair, the sex trafficking kingpin that runs the operation that kidnapped the protagonist's 17-year old daughter.He is fluent in both English and French.-External links:...
as Patrice Saint-Clair
Production
The film was produced by Luc Besson's Europacorp. It was filmed mostly in Paris with about the first 30 minutes taking place in Los AngelesLos Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
. Recognizable locations in the movie are Staples Center
Staples Center
Staples Center is a multi-purpose sports arena in Downtown Los Angeles. Adjacent to the L.A. Live development, it is located next to the Los Angeles Convention Center complex along Figueroa Street. Opening on October 17, 1999, it is one of the major sporting facilities in the Greater Los Angeles...
, Los Angeles International Airport
Los Angeles International Airport
Los Angeles International Airport is the primary airport serving the Greater Los Angeles Area, the second-most populated metropolitan area in the United States. It is most often referred to by its IATA airport code LAX, with the letters pronounced individually...
in L.A. In Paris, shooting locations were near the Eiffel Tower
Eiffel Tower
The Eiffel Tower is a puddle iron lattice tower located on the Champ de Mars in Paris. Built in 1889, it has become both a global icon of France and one of the most recognizable structures in the world...
, the Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport, Fouquet's restaurant and the Pont des Arts
Pont des Arts
The Pont des Arts or Passerelle des Arts is a pedestrian bridge in Paris which crosses the Seine River. It links the Institut de France and the central square of the palais du Louvre, .-History:Between 1802 and 1804, a nine-arch metallic bridge for pedestrians was constructed at the location of...
.
Distribution
Taken premiered in France on February 28, 2008, with releases in the United Kingdom and United States following on September 26, 2008 and January 30, 2009, respectively.Versions
Pierre MorelPierre Morel
-Movie career:After spending his formative years in cinema school, Pierre Morel debuted in 2000 as camera operator with the first Richard Berry's film L'Art de la séduction....
stated that the film's United States distributor, 20th Century Fox
20th Century Fox
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation — also known as 20th Century Fox, or simply 20th or Fox — is one of the six major American film studios...
, forced him to re-edit this film for its US theatrical release so it could receive a PG-13 rating. Later, 20th Century Fox released the original version as an 'Extended Cut' on DVD and Blu-ray. The 'Extended Cut' has more violence which was cut from the US theatrical release.
Reception
On its opening day in the United States, the film grossed $9.4 million, scoring the best opening day ever for Super Bowl weekend. The film has grossed $145,000,989 in the United States and Canada, and $80,460,472 overseas, for a worldwide total of $225,461,461.The film has been compared to the television series 24
24 (TV series)
24 is an American television series produced for the Fox Network and syndicated worldwide, starring Kiefer Sutherland as Counter Terrorist Unit agent Jack Bauer. Each 24-episode season covers 24 hours in the life of Bauer, using the real time method of narration...
: with Neeson's character compared to Jack Bauer
Jack Bauer
Jack Bauer is the main protagonist of the American television series 24. His character has worked in various capacities on the show, often as a member of the fictional Counter Terrorist Unit based in Los Angeles, and working with the FBI in Washington, D.C...
and Grace's role of Kim Mills to Kim Bauer
Kim Bauer
Kim Bauer is a fictional character played by Elisha Cuthbert on the television series 24. She is portrayed as the only daughter of the show's main character, Jack Bauer...
. Xander Berkeley, who played George Mason on 24, also has a small role in the film.
The movie, which received mixed reviews from professional critics, stands at a "Rotten" 58% rating on Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
, with the site's critical consensus stating [that] "Taken is undeniably fun with slick action, but is largely a brainless exercise." Time Magazine said the movie "has nothing more on its mind than dozens of bad guys getting beat up and another one turned into instant roadkill." The Washington Post described the film as "a satisfying thriller as grimly professional as its efficient hero" and likened the action to the Jason Bourne series.
Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
described the film as a "kick ass, pedal-to-the-metal actioner [...] that wisely doesn't give the viewer any time to ponder the string of unlikely coincidences [...] the film has the forward, devil-may-care momentum of a Bond movie on steroids."
The Los Angeles Times described the premise of Taken as "a brisk and violent action programmer that can't help being unintentionally silly at times [...] Obviously, Taken is not the kind of action film to spend much time worrying about its pedestrian script or largely indifferent acting, so it's fortunate to have Neeson in the starring role." Bryan Mills is characterized as "a relentless attack machine who is impervious to fists, bullets and fast-moving cars, he uses a variety of martial skills to knock out more opponents than Mike Tyson and casually kill those he doesn't KO
Knockout
A knockout is a fight-ending, winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai, mixed martial arts, Karate and others sports involving striking...
."
Taken was released on DVD in May 2009. As of March 2011, 4,426,766 copies of the film had been sold generating US$68,544,181 in sales.
Sequel
In November 2010, 20th Century Fox officially announced the production of a sequel which will be named Taken II, directed by Olivier MegatonOlivier Megaton
Olivier Megaton is a French film director, writer, and editor best known for directing The Red Siren, Transporter 3 and Colombiana.-Early life:...
. The film is scheduled to be released in the beginning of October 2012. Liam Neeson, Famke Janssen and Maggie Grace have signed on to reprise their roles from the first film. Filming began in October 2011. The plot of the film is still unknown.
Fraud Case
In 2011, a self-proclaimed counter-terrorism
Counter-terrorism
Counter-terrorism is the practices, tactics, techniques, and strategies that governments, militaries, police departments and corporations adopt to prevent or in response to terrorist threats and/or acts, both real and imputed.The tactic of terrorism is available to insurgents and governments...
expert who claimed the film was based on a real-life incident that killed his daughter was convicted of wire fraud
Wire fraud
Mail and wire fraud is a federal crime in the United States. Together, 18 U.S.C. §§ 1341, 1343, and 1346 reach any fraudulent scheme or artifice to intentionally deprive another of property or honest services with a nexus to mail or wire communication....
. William G. Hillar, who pretended to be a retired Green Beret
Green beret
The green beret was the official headdress of the British Commandos of World War II. It is still worn with pride by members of the Royal Marines after passing the Commando Course and any member of the British Military who has passed the All Arms Commando Course.There are certain other military...
colonel, claimed to have spent more than 12 years lecturing US government agencies such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation
Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency . The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...
on security issues. However, records revealed he had only been a radarman in the Coast Guard Reserve
United States Coast Guard Reserve
The United States Coast Guard Reserve is the reserve component of the United States Coast Guard. It is organized, trained, administered, and supplied under the direction of the Commandant of the Coast Guard through the Director of Reserve and Leadership....
between 1962 and 1970, and had never been in the US Army. Nevertheless his website claimed Taken was based on events involving him and his family. Hillar, who admitted the charges, was sentenced to 500 hours of community service at Maryland State Veteran Cemetery. He also agreed to repay $171,000.