This
trilogy of English-language French films produced by mogul Luc Besson are
thoroughly unoriginal but entertaining potboilers milking the hell out of the
tried-and-true trope of a retired, genius-level secret agent somehow getting
drawn back into the life and prevailing with a display of superhuman strength
and agility. They are tightly plotted
rather than protracted, which is good, but what really gives them some credibility
is the casting of Liam Neeson in the lead role.
The tall and lumbering Irish actor is an unlikely action star, and that
alone is what makes the role interesting.
It seems the kind of thing Jason Statham or maybe Pierce Brosnan would
normally do, (and I was surprised to learn that only Jeff Bridges had been
attached before the part went to Neeson).
That said, the Taken franchise
doesn’t exactly re-invent the genre; it works mostly thanks to its fast-paced
drama and especially its many European locations. Aside from giving aspiring actors everywhere a
nifty little monologue to use in class – (the “particular set of skills”
speech), Taken also has the
distinction of launching the 60-ish Neeson onto a whole new career as an action
hero, with him doing virtually the same routine in things like Non-Stop (2014), A Walk Among the Tombstones (2014) and Run All Night (2015).
No comments:
Post a Comment