14 August 2008
Taken
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Review
by Julie Rigg
French film-maker Luc Besson has always wanted to make big ballsy American style action movies. He co-wrote and produced this one, which is directed by Pierre Morel. Taken stars Liam Neeson as an ex-CIA operator whose adored 17-year-old daughter, visiting Paris, is abducted by the Romanian mafia and auctioned off to Arab oil sheikhs. The film delivers the required number of fist fights and explosions, but it also exploits a patriarchal nightmare: a father's worst fears, his virginal daughter, clad in white lace, being auctioned to Arab oil sheikhs, and so manages to trivialise the very real problem of sexual slavery in which rich white men exploit poor women and children.
Director: Pierre Morel
Cast: Liam Neeson, Maggie Grace, Famke Janssen, Xander Berkeley, Katie Cassidy, Olivier Rabourdin, Lelan Orser, John Gries, David Warshovsky, Gerard Watkins
Producer: Luc Besson, Pierre-Ange Le Pogam, India Osborne
Script: Luc Besson, Robert Mark Kamen
Cinematographer: Michel Abramowitz
Editor: Frederic Thoraval
Music: Nathaniel Mechaly
Running time: 93'
Australian distributor: 20th Century Fox
Language: English
