GDNet at the Movies: Taken

I'll come right out and say it: I loved Taken. I was in a mood for a compact, violent film, and it delivered in spades. The pacing was perfect - and it wasn't a headlong rush into action, either. Characters and relationships are well established over the first half-hour, introducing us to Bryan Mills (Liam Neeson) and his crummy life in retirement, the fact that he gave up his job and life to be closer to his daughter who he feels he may be losing, the antagonistic detente that exists between him and his ex-wife (Famke Janssen, looking a lot older than she did in the X-Men movies; the ex-wife is now married to a millionaire) and the types of skills he possesses. As I watched it, time and again I was confronted with its essential Europeanness. In an American action film, stunts and set pieces are executed for maximum spectacle. For instance, in one scene Mills needs to get onto a boat (think small yacht) that is slowly drifting away. He carjacks one of the bad guys and tears toward a bridge that the boat will pass over. If this was an American film, or even one targeted primarily at American audiences like the Bond franchise, you get the feeling that he would have driven off the bridge and onto the boat, creating massive chaos and then proceeded to mow everyone down with guns blazing. Instead he pulls over on the bridge and jumps relatively quietly onto the boat, incapacitating the guard and proceeding stealthily. I was unsurprised to discover that, indeed, Taken was a French film written by director Luc Besson (La Femme Nikita, The Fifth Element, The Transporter), re-edited to earn a PG-13 rating for US theatrical release. The film is extremely violent, and neither apologizes for nor romanticizes the actions of its protagonist. Torture is used, innocents are shot (just a flesh wound) and coercion is abundant, but so are observation, detection and very smart investigation. Given the 96-hour window within which abductees have a chance to be recovered, the urgency of the situation is apparent - and the stakes are repeatedly made obvious by showing nearly every stage of the process, from the spotter who meets young women at the airport to their kidnapping, their being drugged, the prostitution... it's all very disturbing, yet it's also all very true. Human trafficking is a HUGE problem, the second most profitable criminal enterprise after the drug trade. At the same time, however, the film manages taste. At no time is the presentation of the women exploitative. Whether trying to drum up custom on the street while fearing a beating from a pimp in a car on the corner or drugged and used as "relief" for workers on a construction site, the camera work is modest and humane, emphasizing the identity of these women and never objectifying their bodies. It's a strange notion to think of a sympathetic depiction of a nameless hooker, but the sophistication of the photography really shows in this area (a credit to directory Pierre Morel, who appears to have served as director of photography as well; only a second unit DP is specifically credited). Taken was a joy, and should join the Bourne movies and Casino Royale as modern action classics.