Posts Tagged ‘eyes wide shut’
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Thursday, February 12th, 2009
Taken
If the character, Jason Bourne, were retired, with a daughter, and starred in another movie based on the mutated sexing of The Transporter and Live Free or Die Hard (directed by the editor of Eyes Wide Shut ), it’d be called Taken. The action is gritty, the story is smart and the pace is unrelenting.
It follows Bryan Mills (Liam Neeson), who used to work (vaguely) “for the government.” He’s retired to try and be a bigger part of his seventeen-year-old daughter’s (Maggie Grace) life. She, and her mother (Famke Janssen), convince him to allow her to visit Paris under less-than-true pretenses. The shit, as they say, hits the fan.
It’s an action movie. Generally, this means the premise, outcomes and character’s access to precise knowledge are absurd. (This holds true.) But, the acting is superior to your average and the basic premise is too broad not to at least dip your toes in.
It’s as entertaining as it is unrealistic and as awesome as it is… well… awesome. (Read: not getting paid for this.) Neeson is badass. Watch it if you’re in the mood for some blowing up, mixed-martial-arts maiming.
Need more? How’s this for a plot driving quote?
If you are looking for ransom, I can tell you I don’t have money. But what I do have are 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.
Answer: Unreal.