"Taken" at Northern Lights

Last night I was convinced to go see the movie Taken with Liam Neeson at Northern Lights. We arrived just in time to see a preview for He's Just Not That Into You, which reminded me of how hilarious that movie was and how I'd like to see it again (looks like I might be going back soon!).

The movie was exactly what you would expect of an action flick. The hero is a loner who has secret skills honed in the special forces of the military. When his daughter is abducted by evil human traffikers while traveling in Europe, he shows them what-for with his single-minded attempts to find her. He ends up killing a lot of people, getting chased by police, and generally surprising his enemies with his amazing fighting skills and sheer luck.

Even though it was a traditional action flick, there were a couple of things thrown in that sort of surprised me. There was some interesting political commentation about immigration since the evil people he was dealing with had immigrated from Albania to France and he sort of loses it at one point and shoots an innocent person, which you don't see much of in hero action movies.

I thought Liam Neeson did a really nice job of portraying a father distanced by divorce, trying to regain a relationship with his daughter.

Apparently, Taken was a surprise hit, which just goes to show that people still love a story where good triumphs over evil.