Taken DVD PictureTaken is a popular action movie that has created a lot of buzz with Americans.  The story highlights a situation where a father has his daughter kidnapped.  Fortunately, for him and the audience, this father has “a special set of skills” that allow him to help track down the people who did this and bring her daughter home.  This one will be very popular with male audiences and not with most female audiences.  This is not surprising because of the subject matter as the women are not portrayed in a positive light as they range from being mean and vindictive to not being very bright and aloof.

What I Liked About it?

This is an action packed movie that does not try to do too much.  It is not loaded down with cheesy one liners and instead provides a believable story that never has audiences go, “Oh, yeah right like that would really happen”.  Instead, this movie is powerful because of its simplicity.  Also, the main character, Liam Neeson is effective in this role because he comes off as a mild mannered person who people can identify with and still is believable enough to have the needed “special set of skills”.

Another thing I liked about this film is that it did not worry about politically correct issues as it went ahead and provided a realistic story that mentions what unfortunately does happen in France and some other European countries.  Some people seeing the film are unaware of this but the story fits similar real life situations.

What I Did Not Like?

No strong roles by women.  Instead, women are portrayed as being the “bitch” showcased by the vindictive ex-wife, “ditzy” in the form of the daughter, or “clueless” as the wife of the French police captain.  Obviously, these roles will not endear themselves to female audiences and are actually also insulting to the intelligence of male audiences.  One of the underlying themes of the movie is the women in the movie do not realize that there are evil people in the world who can do them harm, but the men in the film know it all too well.  I think it was a mistake to paint such a clear black and white picture and would actually have been a better film if the female characters were given stronger and more realistic roles.

Overall Review

Despite some misgivings, I will say this is a good film that I enjoyed watching.  As long as you do not make an effort to overanalyze this film, most people will probably like this film too.  I think that should be made clear.  This movie is very straight forward:  A father has his daughter kidnapped and he is willing to do whatever it takes to get her back.  Trying to dig deeper is a mistake for this type of film.  The content will be appealing to male audiences who romanticize the role of protecting women and being the role of the protector; however, the negative stereotypes will alienate some women.

Regardless, I would give the movie a rating of a B+ as it is good for what it is.  I would recommend renting this movie and also would be a good movie to buy on DVD.  For more information on where to buy it, check out Taken DVD.