TAKEN
Director: Pierre Morel
Staring: Liam Neeson, Famke Janssen
Writer: Luc Besson, Robert Mark Kamen
THE GLOCK ---
Taken is thematically about justice. Liam Neeson dishes out heaps and heaps of justice on people who are ridiculously cruel and unusual. The so-called villains of the movie first kidnap, then get their prey addicted to hard drugs, and finally commit them to a life of sex slavery. HOLY FUCK. Those bastards are evil. But the thing that bothers me most about the movie is that, honestly, that bitch of a daughter deserved it. She was spoiled and insolent towards Liam's character and nature's fung-shui was keeping this bitch in check.
GARCIA interjects --
I don't think anyone deserves a life of prostitution. I don't think it's anything you inherently get for bad behavior. What bothers me is that Liam's character didn't like the idea of his 17 year old daughter going to another country, was made to feel bad for trying to protect his daughter, and was eventually tricked by his conniving ex-wife into this deal even though he didn't know the full details. And what bothered me possibly even more was that once he found out the full details of the trip he didn't try to pull her off the plane.
THE GLOCK retorts --
But this is the theme. The injustice done against Liam is borderline comical yet he is stoic and doesn't seem bothered at all by the treatment he receives by both his ex-wife and his daughter. This movie plays on the viewers desire to see the main character vindicated and avenge themselves -- enacting visceral justice upon all who have done the main character wrong.
GARCIA concordance ---
Whatever. It's a movie. Of course there's gonna be some sort of conflict that gets the ball rolling in the first place. The problem is that the conflict is so insane and so unlikely that anyone who has any common sense when it comes to parenting -- and life in general -- can't appreciate the vengeance as it becomes so obvious that this is a world that real people don't live in. For the rest of the movie, you just have to accept that there are going to be flashy cut scenes of Liam Neeson kicking everyone's ass. And if you stripped away just that beginning conflict and just took it as, "Okay, they kidnapped the guy's daughter and now he's gonna bust some skulls" then it's awesome because it's something you wouldn't expect to see.
THE GLOCK returns ---
That's exactly the thing, though. I feel TAKEN by the trailer. I saw Liam Neeson talking about hunting down and killing the people that kidnapped his daughter and I thought, "well, Liam is old so he's gonna have to be all wits and McGuyver style," but he's not. In fact, this is a tricky casting for Liam. The part Liam plays could have just as easily been played by Steven Seagal, especially when you consider how many karate chops to the throat he successfully employed.
GARCIA vehemently protests --
NO FRICKEN WAY! Okay, I'm sorry. Steven Seagal might be an action God, but Liam Neeson was the perfect person for this role had the script been up to snuff. He's getting to the age where he can play a father figure and he can play someone who was hurt in the past. He can actually convey the emotions needed to play a loving and caring father as well as an extreme ass kicker. And there is no fricken way that Steven Seagal could convey those emotions. Because as you got towards the end of the movie, you get to see Liam's character as vulnerable and weak from all the stress of kicking ass during the duration of movie. He's limping and groaning from the pain of combat all movie long, but he's still gonna get his daughter, dammit, cause he said he would!
THE GLOCK, can't stop till he gets enough --
Sorry, but there wasn't a big range of acting going on. There was some groans, some gruff and stern wording by Liam. I would hardly call any of the acting anything besides standard. Definitely didn't showcase the spectrum of emotions that Liam is capable of doing (see: Schindler's List). Steven Seagal can give a stern look, speak with gruff kick-assery, and karate chop throats way better than Liam could ever dream of doing. My point was that casting Liam in this role was a con. I expected a character with a much more dynamic range of emotions, but Liam really had only two looks during the movie --- happy to see his daughter, and gonna-kick-your-ass look towards the baddies.
GARCIA ---
Yeah, but the trailer was the best two minutes of the film. I guess a couple certain things were accomplished by the movie -- I hated the mother, I pitied Liam and was glad he got his justice in the end. I just felt like overall the whole movie could've been avoided if they just listened to Liam. The morale of the story is that you should listen to your Dad. Don't got overseas without the consent of your father. Especially if you're gonna go follow U2 around.... I mean, who does that?! It's 2008. Not 1987. I just popped in Joshua Tree and I feel reinvigorated (Bono, j-king, I love you guys).
Well, alright Glock, what would you rate it out of 5 karate chops to the throat?
GLOCK ---
2 karate chops to the neck.
Sorry, this movie was brain dead and visceral... I was expecting much more from the trailer (seeing as how Liam was in it). I expected an intelligent action-thriller and got a brain-dead action, throat-chopping fest. And you, Garcia?
GARCIA --
Oh, you know what? I give it a 1.5 out of 5.... I just remember the ending which made me verbalize my dismay in the theater. It just wasn't what I expected it to be. I expected sooo much more and it didn't live up to it. I guess in life there's gotta be losers...
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