It is a big bad world we live in and we sometimes tend to forget that as we enjoy the comfort and security we have taken for granted. Although we are often warned of dangers when we travel, travel has become something so common that we think nothing of flying a few hours to a new country or hailing cabs in countries where we can’t even speak the language.

If you have always thought those who are extra-careful when traveling are paranoid, Taken will jolt you back into awareness that the world is really a big bad place, if you aren’t careful.

I thought that it was a little ironical this show was released almost right after Liam Neeson’s wife, Natasha Richardson, tragically died in a ski accident.

Read below for my review. Be warned of spoilers!

Review of Taken Starring Liam Neeson

Taken features a single father, Bryan Mills (Liam Neeson) whose job as a “preventer” or Government spy causes his family breakup. He later gave up his job to be a better father and move closer to his and teenage daughter, Kim who is living with his estranged wife, Lenore and her very wealthy husband. Like most children of divorced parents, Kim sees her father only when she needs something from him which was a signature to allow her to visit Paris with her friend, Amanda, after her 17th birthday.

In Paris, the two flighty girls befriend a man, Peter at the airport who offers to share a taxi with them and from there learns that they are staying alone in Amanda’s cousin’s apartment. What follows is a kidnapping by an Albanian kidnapping ring who kidnaps young foreign girls for prostitution and a father’s race through Paris to rescue his beloved daughter in 96 hours.

Taken is rated PG13 and it is easy to see why with the many fighting scenes and drug use that follows. Liam Neeson stocks up enough body counts to make Rambo proud as he single-handedly takes team after team of vicious, brutal men with machine guns and pistols.

In several scenes, the kidnapped girls are shown to be heavily drugged and made to either serve men in construction sites as prostitutes while chained to their beds or to participate in a twisted auction if they are virgins. Some like Amanda, end up dying of drug overdose while Kim gets auctioned off in a secret warped bidding process where rich and old men buy young virgins. It does seem sickening and the realisation that there are probably syndicates out there in the world preying on young women everywhere only makes it more sickening.

Is Taken Worth Watching?

Yes, if for nothing but to see Liam Neeson’s fantastic moves and amazing spy brilliance as he tracks the kidnappers. As a father, it must be heart-wrenching to hear your daughter screaming as she is kidnapped while having to remain calm to request for her to shout out any form of identification on the kidnappers so he can identify them. With just those and a single monotone of “Good Luck” from the kidnappers, he single-handedly tracks them down and saves his daughter in the nick of time.

If I had a teenage daughter, I would definitely take her for this movie to demonstrate how dangerous the world can be and just being a little cautious and paranoid can be a matter of life and death. It is also a good way to teach her how important her choice of friends can be.

Amanda: I am going to sleep with Peter!

Kim: But you hardly know him…

Amanda: Who cares, he’s cute!

Taken is currently showing at all major cinemas.