Taken (2008)
General story: Retired
operative Brian Mills spends his time living for his daughter. Making up for
lost time in her younger years, his daughter Kim now lives with her mother and
step-father. Just shy of her 18th birthday, Kim wants to head to Europe for the
trip of a lifetime; visiting museums! Or so she says. Brian discovers she’s
following U2 around the continent, and overcoming his hesitation, finally has
to let go, so his daughter can live. Despite Brian’s warnings that his daughter
wouldn’t be safe (which no one listens to), Kim is indeed, taken; abducted by Albanian
human traffickers. Retired doesn’t mean dead, and in a flash Brian’s springs
into action, flying to Paris to track down his daughter and find the men who took
her.
What influenced the
movie? Little known director Pierre Morel, who was a household name in
France, wasn’t the drawcard of this movie. In fact, it was the compelling story
of a man saving his daughter by any means necessary. Sure, we’ve all seen
plenty of movies before about kidnappings, and the parent being the only one
who can do anything about it… but not like this. Despite it’s violence and
serious subject matter, Taken was driven by an emotionally resonant dilemma. A
father will do anything for his children and losing one to abduction is every
parent’s worst nightmare. And all of this played out on screen wouldn’t have been
as riveting and brilliant as it was, were it not for the performance of Liam
Neeson.
How the movie
influenced the 00's: Coming out of nowhere, generated by very positive word
of mouth, and starring an actor more associated with dramatic roles, Taken broke
the mould and took action movies to a new place. The action stars we knew and
grew up with (Schwarzenegger, Stallone) were getting old, and although Liam Neeson
was in his late fifties at the time of filming, he proved age was no barrier to
kicking ass! So convincing was Neeson as the action hero with a heart, that
Taken was a massive hit, garnering a huge following, and earning the actor even
more widespread respect and acclaim, for playing a character against his type,
and pulling it off so well. In the years that followed Taken, every ageing
actor in Hollywood decided to film their own tale of revenge and play the part
of a one-man killing machine.
What makes it stand
out as a film of the 00's? The Jason Bourne franchise was influential for making
action gritty, frenetic and fast paced, which would in turn influence the James
Bond franchise of the 00’s, and also spawn the revival of action heroes from
the 80’s and 90’s, which resulted in “The Expendables”. Taken, which probably
didn’t intend to have as much of an impact as it did, also took Liam Neeson’s
career to new heights, breeding two sequels, and a slew of Taken-esque action
films, all featuring Neeson as the Everyman, suddenly thrust into a predicament
he didn’t see coming, but which he adapts to with his unique fighting style and
clever resourcefulness. Without Taken, he surely wouldn’t have made “The Grey”,
“Non-Stop”, “A Walk Amongst the Tombstones” and virtually every other action
film he’s made since.
Impact of the movie
still felt today: Setting an example for all his 50 years age + actors to
follow, Taken still continues to influence action movies today; in particular how
they are made and what they’re made about. 50 was the new 30 it seemed, as
ageing actors graduated into stylistic action films instead of smaller
supporting roles in dramatic films. Even Keanu Reeves got in on the action, for
this third career revival as an action hero, when he made “John Wick”. The
message of all these films, originating from Taken was;
“Take a man, with
former skills in fighting and espionage, and he may lay dormant for a while. But
like a volcano, it only needs to erupt and when it does, everything and
everyone better get out of it’s way”
Appealing to the angry, violent, machoistic hero that lies
inside every man, Taken and its copycats were embraced most of all by men, resonating
with the everyday guy pushed to the limits by doing the unthinkable to avenge
the one’s he cares about most; his family. Pretty substantial for an action movie,
and Taken showed another side to our dark world, that violence can be justified,
if its used to stop more violence.
No comments:
Post a Comment