Taken

We all know who this is! its the big man himself Liam Neeson who made a significant appearance that amazed audience around the world so much that they made a second film. You know it and I hope you liked it, it's the one and only TAKEN!!!!!

Taken was released in 2008 and it was definitely a memorable film for me because it was a lot of fun to watch and I am also a big fan of Liam so I do enjoy most things with him in it and I think that's because he takes his roles seriously and he performs them brilliantly each time, even in Star Wars.
Taken shows us the life of an ex CIA agents who is trying to regain his relationship with his daughter, Kim asks Bryan whether she can go to Paris with her friend he says no but is later softened by his ex-wife. In Paris Kim is taken by human traffickers, Bryan flies to Paris in a desperate search for his daughter and nothing is going to get in his way.

I remember when this was shown on film 4 and I said I "wasn't interested" dear god what was I thinking, I was round a friends house and I got a phone call from my dad at about 12 saying how good it was and my dad is never easily amused by films so I watched it immediately the following day.

What was great about this film which I believe was clearly obvious was the brutality and the fear it created, it was a very realistic situation and it made a great film. Going on to the brutality of the film, Liam Neeson does a great job carrying out hand to hand combat but what's even better is that he does it with ease; he's dealt with people like them before. I recently watched the film and listened to a few YouTuber's talk about key scenes and I think Bryan killed maybe 30 people... yeah, thats incredible. There were definitely some awesome neck breakers but the electrocution scene stood out against all of them because it was barbaric and a bit disturbing, Bryan showed no remorse... would you?
How could I forget the most memorable quote in the entire film that has now become a meme and a ring tone, a very good ring tone!

I don't know who you are. I don't know what you want. If you're looking for ransom, I can tell you I don't have money. But what I do have is a very particular set of skills, skills I have acquired over a very long career. Skills that make me a nightmare for people like you. If you let my daughter go now that'll be the end of it. I will not look for you, I will not pursue you. But if you don't, I will look for you, I will find you and I will kill you.

I have no idea what makes this quote so special, I guess its the serious tone he uses or the fact that he is generally not scared that his daughter has been taken, he seems perfectly ok with it and that may be because he knows that he's going to get her back but I personally would have broken down and called the cops- there's no way I could kill 30 people without injuring myself, I would have pulled out after getting a splinter or something.

Liam portrays Bryan amazingly as the father who wants the love of his family causes us to feel a bit of sympathy towards him, this is immediately crushed when he goes on his killing spree an awesome spree that captivates both the fury of a father and the skill of a person with experience, he's like an unstoppable force.

Like most films it had its issues, a few that really annoyed me was the effect this traumatic event had on his daughter... nothing, she was cool with it. She didn't need counselling or anything like that I just felt it would have been nice to see the psychological effect it had on Bryan's daughter in comparison to the effect it had on him, he's use to killing people but no one has targeted his daughter before so again it would have been nice to see a different emotional response from both characters at the end. Also the fact that Bryan isn't rewarded, he's probably one of those guys that don't do it for rewards but all he got was a hug, this guy travelled to Paris, killed 30+ guys, didn't die and returned Kim all within a few days and all he got was a hug... are you kidding me? the news didn't even cover it, that would have been front page stuff, unless its really easy to kill 30 people without drawing attention (like assassins creed) 

Diverting away from the issues and I'm sure there are more buy hey ho nobody's perfect. I adore this film and have watched it many times because it's a lot of fun to watch, the actors are great, the story is simple yet very real and that adds a lot of fear because human trafficking is a very undermined business and I thought it was very brave that the director took this and turned it into an action packed film and if you over look some of the issues it is very enjoyable and I strongly recommend it. Whilst the second film may not live up to this they are both brilliant to watch however I felt that Taken 2 lost the real story but involved a wider scale of action ranging from grenades to car chases. I give Taken a solid 7.5 

The obvious highlight is of course the great Liam Neeson who really shined in this film, his character was well developed, he was scary and he made the film. The unique fighting and take on the film created a gripping film that contained elements of suspense and fun. Its definitely one of my top films! 

Personally Liam Neeson is one of my favourite actors because he takes his roles very seriously and he is not afraid of a little risk, despite the tragic loss of his wife he has stayed strong and I admire him for his incredible acting abilities which allow him to portray a range of characters from the guy who trained Batman to a Greek god and even a Lego character. I think he has got some great films lined up that I cannot wait to see, please keep your eyes peeled for an upcoming film called "Non-Stop" 

thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed and I apologise for the delay in posting I've been busy revising and getting back into drawing, I use to draw quite a lot but I stopped and now I'm trying some new stuff like drawing my first ever Disney character and soon I will be finishing a drawing on Smaug- I didn't say they were any good.

Again I've got some great stuff lined up, an American Psycho discussion, my favourite Marvel fights and a review on Coriolanus.

so stay tuned and thanks again.

Until Next time :)