DVD
REVIEW: TAKEN
05/22/09
SYNOPSIS: When a
former spy’s estranged daughter is kidnapped in France, he
sets out to find her at any cost. Relying on his special
skills, he tracks down the ruthless gang that abducted her
and launches a one-man war to bring them to justice and
rescue his daughter.
REVIEW: By looking at the title, synopsis
and trailer for this film, the first thing that comes to
mind is same story same resolution. The daughter of one of the
best government agents is kidnapped. This agent uses his influence
and skills to rescue her, end of the story, Right! In other
words, it contains a very common plot with a predictable
ending. However, the catch of this film is how it captivates
the audience and then it becomes hard to stop watching it.
Like it was expected Liam
Neeson is the main reason why the film is better than
average. His performance engages the audience in a way
that in some instances his feeling of agony for
rescuing his daughter is transmitted. In the same
manner, you can almost scream of joy when he
starts confronting and annihilating the bad guys. His
characterization as a desperate father in search of part of
his soul, makes the audience ignore the predictable plot by
concentrating more on the developing conflict, sequential
action and final resolution of the film.
Luc Besson's action thrill
signature is perceived in some of the action scenes of Taken.
Reminding audiences of the series Transporter. Director Pierre Morel also added some of his martial
arts known as parkour, which was part of his acclaimed film
"District B13".
Overall I found the film to be very
entertaining, surprising my expectations. I
still don't understand how Fox can release a film like Space
Chimps at the end of July, rather than this one.
DVD: Taken is presented in
a widescreen format with a 2.40:1 aspect ration. The
transfer looks clean, judging from the watermark screening
received it is very difficult to determine the real quality
of the video, however I wont doubt that the final product
will be just fine. The picture is
complemented with a 5.1 Dolby digital sound in
English with Spanish and English subtitles.
In terms of special
features the DVD includes two version of the film, the
theatrical version and the unrated version, as well as
a digital copy. Additional bonus features include
audio commentaries by the director, writer and
cinematographers, exclusive behind-the-scenes “making of”
featurette and action packed side-by-side comparisons.
VIDEO:
2.40:1 Anamorphic Widescreen
AUDIO:
English
5.1 (Dolby Digital).
Subtitles - English Spanish - Optional
SPECIAL FEATURES:
Audio commentary with Director
Pierre Morel, Writer Mark Kamen, and Cinematographers
Michael Abramowicz and Michael Julienne: Unrated
Version only
Audio commentary with
Writer Robert Mark Kamen: Unrated Version only
Le “Making Of”
featurette (18:22)
Inside Action: Side
by Side Comparisons: (11:05)
Avant Premiere
(4:27)
Digital Copy
RATING BREAK DOWN:
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