I Will Find You… I Will Kill You

Film: B+
The vigilante film had become a lost art for a while there. So prevalent in the 70’s through the early 90’s they’ve died down a bit when Arnie and Sly began to show their age and action films tried too hard or just not enough. There was something satisfying in Commando or Rambo, that’s rarely been revisited since. The Jason Bourne films steered Hollywood into a new direction, as the thrill of pursuit with high speed action found its place once again, reawakening the James Bond franchise. In comes the movie Taken, a film produced and co-written by fan favorite, Luc Besson, (Le Femme Nikita, The Professional) a guy who knows a thing or two about making films with intrigue, suspense, and action. Together with director, Pierre Morel, and fellow writer Robert Mark Kamen, they craft one of the tightest thrillers in a long time. It’s perfect in its pacing, its situation, and execution. There’s absolutely no fat in Taken, just a simple guy with the means to back up his words.

Retired government operative Bryan Mills (Liam Neeson) just wants some normalcy in his life but no one listens. His 17-year old daughter, Kim (Maggie Grace) and friend Amanda deceive him by telling him that they are spending the summer with Amanda’s family. In actuality they are following U2 all around Europe free of any family or supervision. This comes at a time when Mills moved to LA, living in modest conditions to be closer to his daughter to try and repair the relationship he sacrificed while working for the government. Bryan’s ex-wife Lenore (Famke Janssen) has since moved on and is begrudgingly allowing him to see Kim on a limited basis, while rubbing in her new husband’s luxuries.

Kim agrees to check in with her father when she gets to Paris, and when she does, Bryan gets the call no parent ever wants to get. Witnessing Amanda being kidnapped, Kim frantically has some last words with her father knowing that she’ll be next. Instructing her to give him any clues she can, Bryan goes into survival mode and is forced to race the clock: get to Paris, and save his daughter from being a victim of human trafficking. It’s so simple and yet brilliant because it delivers on every note of what a film like this should be.

In a flash, Neeson goes from a can’t win daddy to an ass-kicking vigilante that would make Jack Bauer proud. He’s quite believable while doing it too. With an imposing stature combined with the fast-cutting style of French action cinematography you never get the sense that this guy is retired, as if he was a sharpened tool just waiting to be used. He’s resourceful and is constantly using the skills learned as an operative. Remember when Steven Segal broke onto the scene and in his early films you believed this guy could be a one-man wrecking crew. The problem was, he believed it too, a little too much. But Neeson plays the part to a tee, and we get lost in what he does on screen. We only wish we possessed not only the size, and skill but have the necessary connections to be able to wipe it clean from our record. In the end, it’s the ultimate wish fulfillment film, and the biggest ?I told you so.?

The Director’s Cut places four minutes of violence back in, and the box office success shows why the choices were made but as far as the story goes, those added minutes are important details that bring the desperation and urgency of a one-mission man. Unable to slow the film down to show emotion, Neeson is able to show that in subtle details in how violently he goes for these guys for example shooting for the head and multiple rounds unloaded. It’s enough to get a complete picture of what’s going through Mills’ mind. It’s not essential for the story because it played well enough in the theaters, but it does add another dimension to the main character, and hell, who doesn’t like seeing Qui-Gon Jin fuck people up?

Video: A-
Taken plays in high definition with a 1080p, AVC-encoded transfer in a nice wide 2.40:1 ratio. I absolutely loved how this film looked on blu-ray. In the daytime scenes you felt like you were there, but this film really thrived at night. The hues were lush, glowing in night scenes but never to the point of over-saturation. Skintones had warm amber quality to them, even Paris’ ugly corners looked lovely. Moments like the auction scene were as black as a coal mine, and really added to the seediness of it. Fox put out a very strong high definition transfer that has just enough grain to make you know you’re watching a film, but an abundant amount of detail and color show that Taken on blu-ray is anything but standard.

Audio: A
Taken has a great 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio audio track that has broad dynamic range and plenty of action for all channels of your home theater. Crowd noise like cameras flashing and idol chatter move behind you in the early concert scene when we get a taste of Bryan’s skills. Gunshots ping and patter all around as well. The car chase sequence in the construction site is a great chapter to replay and there’s lots of subwoofer activity. Nothing was mixed too strong or harsh, or too low. All of the different dialects are clear and distinctive blu-ray and is possibly one of my favorites this year as far as sound goes. Also available are a 5.1 Dolby Digital Spanish Track, a 5.1 Dolby Surround French track and subtitles in English Hard of Hearing and Spanish.

Extras: B-
Disc One
Toggling between unrated and theatrical versions can be done from the initial disc load or at anytime during the playback of the season.

Audio Commentary by Director Pierre Morel, Cinematographers Michel Abramowicz, and Michel Julienne this commentary is conducted entirely in French, with subtitles. It’s an entertaining track although it’s a little difficult to pick up who specifically is talking at the time since the voice pitch is so similar amongst the three of them. They crack jokes and talk a lot of the production and the artistic direction, and the shooting style at different points of the film. I just wish they could change the colors of those subtitles to yellow.

Audio Commentary by Writer Robert Mark Kamen talks about working with Morel and Besson, gives some French action film history, and the danger of losing sympathy for the main character, gets you in the mind of Bryan which I really enjoyed almost giving a reading of the novel version of Taken if there was one.

Black Ops Field Manual – is a picture-in-picture is a fun way to watch the film. Black boxes come up in the bottom left with real facts about black operative agents, their training, and some pretty scary statistics of human trafficking. There are just some astonishing facts putting Albania on the frontline of human trafficking offenders. At the top of the screen is a running tab of the distance Bryan travels, the Time Remaining in the story’s timeline that begins when Kim is taken, and a body count of how many people are injured and killed. I happen to watch this while listening to the Kamen commentary, which worked out pretty well.

Le Making Of HD (18:24) – is standard making of affair. Nothing out of the ordinary or particularly special just a bunch of fluff interviews with cast and crew.

Avant Premiere HD (4:48) – a neat split screen interview with Besson, Neeson, and Morel at the premiere of the film in France. As exciting as this event was for the crew who attended, it’s hard not to feel sad though when you see the late Natasha Richardson at Liam’s side.

Inside Action Side-by-Side Comparisons HD (11:05) – Six scenes (Peter Dies, Bryan Escapes Construction Site, Good Luck, The Interrogation, Bryan at Saint Clair’s, and Boat Fight) show how much changes from the on-location shoot to the final result after post production.

Trailers for X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Street Fighter Legend of Chun Li, and 12 Rounds appear when you load the blu-ray and there’s one for Notorious in the special features.

Disc Two:
Digital Copy Disc for laptops, computers and other portable digital media players. It should be noted that it plays the extended cut only.

I’m Quite Taken – Overall Shock Value: B+
Taken is an action-packed 90 minutes that’s been trimmed of all the fat so it should be good for anyone’s diet of films along with those looking for some serious wish fulfillment. The extras don’t push this up another level but it’s a technically sound blu-ray with the trimmings and has multiple ways of viewing it. It’s a great little film that’s easy to get in and then get out, the true mark of a vigilante classic.

Ernie Estrella