taken in

[sergebroom]

I saw Luc Besson’s movie Taken tonight. The best thing about it was Liam Neeson. And, off the top of your head, do you remember which character he played in Boorman’s Excalibur? But back to today’s movie… I went in, expecting a thrill ride and nothing more, especially from Besson, who committed that waste of talent called The Fifth Element a few years ago. All storytelling is manipulation, although some are more blatant about it. Even then, I can accept being blatantly manipulated, if the message is one I agree with. As for Taken… Maybe I am reading too much into it, but it’s hard for yours truly, an immigrant with a funny accent, not to be annoyed by the apparent politics exuding from Besson’s mind. I mean, as Neeson, a retired CIA agent, rushes to Paris where his daughter was abducted, the bad guys are Albanian immigrants, which the movie outright chastises for messing up their new home, what with their stealing young women into sexual slavery and selling the hero’s daughter to a fat sheik. The only way the movie could have laid it on thicker would have been for the sheik to wear robes. There are bad Frenchmen too, but they’re the one who look the other way while the immigrants and the Ay-rabs steal the wimminfolk.

The message I got from this film?

Outsourcing torture is bad because it’s usually done in countries with an unreliable electrical grid, but torture is justified because foreigners hate America and we must defend ourselves.

Comments

[mac-stone.livejournal.com]

Gahh. That's more than a bit disappointing. I like Liam Neeson a great deal, and had been looking forward to Taken -- because I thought it had the potential to be tightly-plotted, anxious, and psychologically tense.

[serge-lj.livejournal.com]

It IS possible that I am reading too much into it, but I don't think so. This only reinforces Besson's position on my do-not-see list.

My wife did say that it was nice to see an older man in adventure roles. Mind you, he's only 3 years older than I am and, when I asked, she said I do look as old. Talk about a greta way to end the day.

[coffeerama.com (from livejournal.com)]

the plot of Taken is refreshingly simple: "Liam Neeson is gonna beat down some people till he gets his daughter back..."

[serge-lj.livejournal.com]

And he'll really mess up Parisian car traffic until his lying disobedient daughter is safely home, having learned that one must submit to paternal authority.

[marydell.livejournal.com]

Sheiks and white slavery! Did Clara Bow play his daughter?

[mac-stone.livejournal.com]

You're both handsome and distinguished, though, without Neeson's sort of over-tired look. :)

[mac-stone.livejournal.com]

Kids, these days.

*g*

[txanne.livejournal.com]

Oh, uck. Thanks for saving me two hours and a slot on my Netflix queueueue.

[serge-lj.livejournal.com]

Aw shucks!

One thing I noticed is that Neeson has always been a big guy, but not this time. He seemed to be floating in his clothes, like he's lost a lot of weight.

[serge-lj.livejournal.com]

Maybe they were planning to, but even they realized that'd be pushing it. Maybe the Director's Cut will have a scene with Snidely Whiplash and a sawmill.

By the way, the daughter had been led into lying to her dad by a fellow California Girl. Can you guess which of the two doesn't make it back home? I'd have accepted a lot of silliness from the movie, but did the plot have to be triggered by disobedience? I mean, you're a mother, and you do what you can to protect your son. Still, even if he listens to you all the time, that's not a guarantee that he'll always be safe.

[serge-lj.livejournal.com]

Like I said above, others may feel differently. Oh, by the way, Famke Janssen plays Neeson's ex-wife, and it was a reminder of how badly they used her in the last X-men movie. (Then again, pretty much everyone was badly used in the last X-men movie.)

[txanne.livejournal.com]

Nah--I like big stupid action movies, but there's stupid and then there's stupid, you know?

[serge-lj.livejournal.com]

It's not that the stupidity was extreme, but it wasn't helped by the political and moral underpinnings.

[txanne.livejournal.com]

The political and moral underpinnings are the extra-special stupid I was talking about.

[serge-lj.livejournal.com]

Heheheh...

[fledgist.livejournal.com]

Good point!

[serge-lj.livejournal.com]

On the bright side, when we came out of the movie, my wife found a $5 bill lying on the ground by our car. Maybe it was the theater's attempt to apologize.

[marydell.livejournal.com]

As a Mother, I hope that if my son ever disobeys me I'll have the courage to torture and kill a lot of people in the course of setting him straight.

[serge-lj.livejournal.com]

"Boss?"
"There's someone a the door who wants to talk to you."
"Kill that person. Don't you know I am in the middle of implementing a nefarious plan?"
"But..."
"But what?"
"Her name is Mary Dell."
"We're dead."

[mjlayman.livejournal.com]

Now, now, The Fifth Element had marvelous sets and costumes!

[serge-lj.livejournal.com]

I know. Mézières's designs were astounding. That's what made the rest of the film so offensive to me, along with its depiction of black people.