Opening

72% World War Z Jun 21
76% Monsters University Jun 21
61% The Bling Ring Jun 21
60% Maniac Jun 21
100% A Hijacking Jun 21
66% Unfinished Song Jun 21
100% The Attack Jun 21
—— The Haunting of Helena Jun 21

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55% Man of Steel $116.6M
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38% The Purge $8.3M
34% The Internship $7.1M
62% Epic $6.3M
87% Star Trek Into Darkness $6.3M
11% After Earth $4.1M
78% Iron Man 3 $3.0M

Coming Soon

—— How To Make Money Selling Drugs Jun 26
—— White House Down Jun 28
—— The Heat Jun 28
56% I'm So Excited! Jun 28

Taken (2008)

tomatometer

58

Average Rating: 5.8/10
Reviews Counted: 168
Fresh: 98 | Rotten: 70

Taken is undeniably fun with slick action, but is largely a brainless exercise.

45

Average Rating: 5.1/10
Critic Reviews: 40
Fresh: 18 | Rotten: 22

Taken is undeniably fun with slick action, but is largely a brainless exercise.

audience

83

liked it
Average Rating: 4/5
User Ratings: 421,644

My Rating

Movie Info

An ex-soldier (Liam Neeson) traveling through Europe embarks on a frantic quest to rescue his daughter (Maggie Grace) after the young girl is abducted by slave traders in District B13 director Pierre Morel's contemporary thriller Taken. Robert Mark Kamen joins the screenwriting team, which also includes Morel and longtime collaborator Luc Besson, who also produces. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

May 12, 2009

$144.9M

20th Century Fox - Official Site External Icon

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All Critics (169) | Top Critics (40) | Fresh (98) | Rotten (70) | DVD (11)

It's fun for about 15 minutes seeing Neeson do James Bond as Daddy Dangerous. But the surprise wears off quickly.

February 3, 2011 Full Review Source: Rolling Stone | Comments (7)
Rolling Stone
Top Critic IconTop Critic

You've just kidnapped the wrong teenager, Mister Foreign Slave Trader Man.

February 7, 2009 Full Review Source: Richard Roeper.com | Comments (10)
Richard Roeper.com
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Taken is the kind of exploitative junk everyone expects from no-talent French hack Luc Besson.

February 4, 2009 Full Review Source: New York Observer | Comments (30)
New York Observer
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[Neeson's] performance is the most perturbing thing in the film, even more so than its electrical-torture sequence or its revelations about sex-trafficking.

February 2, 2009 Full Review Source: New Yorker | Comment (1)
New Yorker
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It's the big, dolorous Neeson who makes the movie a keeper.

February 2, 2009 Full Review Source: New York Magazine
New York Magazine
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Don't be taken in by Taken.

February 2, 2009 Full Review Source: Christian Science Monitor | Comments (8)
Christian Science Monitor
Top Critic IconTop Critic

As Kim, Maggie Grace is a bit old to convincingly portray a boppy underage teenager, although she appears to be giving her best to a one-dimensional role that essentially disappears during the movie's slam-bang midsection.

September 29, 2011 Full Review Source: American Profile
American Profile

Neeson stars in the sort of part Harrison Ford would have gotten ten or fifteen years ago.

August 16, 2011 Full Review Source: East Bay Express | Comment (1)
East Bay Express

The dialogue is functional at best, Bryan's motives are basic; it's all apt for this bare-knuckle punch of an action movie.

July 14, 2011 Full Review Source: Digital Spy
Digital Spy

It's so awesome to see Liam Neeson taking out the trash in pursuit of his prized child.

April 4, 2011 Full Review Source: Movies.com
Movies.com

In Taken viewers are introduced to a new side of Irish actor Liam Neeson, one that is relentless and likes to hit criminals in the throat -- a lot.

February 1, 2011 Full Review Source: Palo Alto Weekly | Comments (2)
Palo Alto Weekly

Though the film takes some time to get going, once Neeson arrives in Paris, the 91-minute runtime flies by like its stuck on fast-forward.

October 14, 2010 Full Review Source: Bullz-Eye.com
Bullz-Eye.com

Taken is a fast-paced, high-octane action movie that ... doesn't take very many detours into soul-searching melancholy.

August 30, 2009 Full Review Source: Washington Times | Comment (1)
Washington Times

I liked it, but don't expect the unexpected in this French action thriller -- especially in an ending that is about as predictable as a Pine Sol commercial.

June 10, 2009 Full Review Source: BET.com
BET.com

It's got all the attributes of a guilty pleasure - excitement, some undeniably enjoyable scenes and the absence of what it needs to be more memorable and more substantial.

June 1, 2009 Full Review Source: Apollo Guide | Comment (1)
Apollo Guide

This heart-stopping revenge flick written by Luc Besson is easily Liam Neeson's most memorable performance since his Oscar-nominated outing in Schindler's List.

May 12, 2009 Full Review Source: NewsBlaze
NewsBlaze

The action is engaging but rarely exciting; the drama heftier but still far from convincing.

May 11, 2009 Full Review Source: Filmcritic.com | Comments (5)
Filmcritic.com

In a lesser actor's hands, the powerful impact of the subject matter would not have been so ably delivered.

April 2, 2009 Full Review Source: MovieWeb | Comment (1)

The script is more hard-hitting and realistic than [Besson's] Transporter films, which means youll only laugh out loud two or three times.

March 23, 2009
Salt Lake Tribune

Taken is the best action thriller of 2009 thus far.

March 22, 2009 Full Review Source: Entertainment Spectrum | Comments (2)
Entertainment Spectrum

This briskly paced movie delivers a full payload of action and leaves you mentally exhausted. You immediately recall the famous line from "The Wizard of Oz" that "There is no place like home."

March 20, 2009 Full Review Source: Entertainment Spectrum
Entertainment Spectrum

A morally specious but undeniably efficient brainstem-tickler -- the most effective action/revenge thriller in years.

March 6, 2009 Full Review Source: Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN)
Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN)

Neeson delivers a typically compelling performance in (for him) an atypically muscle-bound role.

March 3, 2009 Full Review Source: Creative Loafing
Creative Loafing

Fortunately, somewhat-sloppy storytelling never gets in the way of this briskly paced action adventure.

March 1, 2009 Full Review Source: Sean the Movie Guy

A bizarre mix of sentimentality and bone-cracking violence, this Hardcore/Not Without My Daughter hybrid pits a determined father against the thuggish Albanian sex traffickers who kidnapped daddy's little girl as she vacationed in Paris.<

March 1, 2009 Full Review Source: Miss FlickChick | Comments (4)
Miss FlickChick

Audience Reviews for Taken

Liam Neeson is a complete bad ass mfer in this move!! The worst part about this movie is the premise, as a father of two girls it scares the living daylights out of me. This and the movie Trade with Kevin Kline .. i need nothing else to scare the shit out of me.
June 16, 2009
jmanard52

Super Reviewer

A retired ex-secret serviceman is trying to make amends with his estranged daughter when she is kidnapped in Paris by white slave traders. Taken is on paper a very straightforward, almost tired sounding idea that you've heard a thousand times before. It's an unpretentious action thriller that plays out like a revenge story, except there is a goal outside of vengeance; a father's unstoppable wish to protect his daughter from harm. The first 30 minutes is the usual predictable and slightly clumsy exposition, but once Neeson springs into action it becomes an altogether different beast. Neeson is not the kind of action hero who looks like he'd shy from a fight for the fear of mussing his hair. Instead we get an ageing Irish terminator cutting a swathe through the kind of evil bastards even a guilt-ridden white liberal such as myself feels a tingle of pleasure to see brutally disposed of. The appearance of Holly Valance is a little embarrassing and sits about as comfortably as pink frosting atop a T-bone steak and made me suspect that her agent beat the producer at cards the night before shooting but otherwise it does exactly what is says on the tin. Plotless in almost a pleasing way, this is kind of like James Bond going rogue except "this time it's personal"; there are no stereotypical terrorists threatening our fat cat white Christian way of life, no shadowy conspiracies or megalomaniacs, just a single-minded feast of adrenaline fuelled action that I really enjoyed. One of my future guilty pleasures and no mistake...
March 13, 2008
garyX
xGary Xx

Super Reviewer

    1. Bryan Mills: I don't know who you are. I don't know what you want. If you're looking for ransom, I can tell you I don't have money but what I do have are a very particular set of skills. Skills I have acquired over a very long career. Skills that make me a nightmare for people like you. If you let my daughter go now, that will be the end of it. I will not look for you, I will not pursue you. But if you don't, I will look for you, I will find you and I will kill you.
    – Submitted by Abhishek S (3 months ago)
    1. Bryan Mills: I don't know who you are. I don't know what you want. If you are looking for ransom, I can tell you I don't have money. But what I do have are a very particular set of skills; skills I have acquired over a very long career. Skills that make me a nightmare for people like you. If you let my daughter go now, that'll be the end of it. I will not look for you, I will not pursue you. But if you don't, I will look for you, I will find you, and I will kill you....
    – Submitted by Melvin M (7 months ago)
    1. Bryan Mills: I don't know who you are. I don't know what you want. If you are looking for ransom, I can tell you I don't have money. But what I do have are a very particular set of skills; skills I have acquired over a very long career. Skills that make me a nightmare for people like you. If you let my daughter go now, that'll be the end of it. I will not look for you, I will not pursue you. But if you don't, I will look for you, I will find you, and I will kill you.
    – Submitted by Yasser F (7 months ago)
    1. Bryan Mills: By the way, which one of you is Marko?
    2. Marko: We are all Marko.
    3. Bryan Mills: Marko, from Tropoja.
    4. Marko: We are all from Tropoja...
    5. Bryan Mills: ...If that's the game you want to play the rates just went up ten percent.
    – Submitted by Zach W (8 months ago)
    1. Bryan Mills: You don't remember me? We spoke on the phone...I told you I would find you. [goes on to kick 5 different Marco's butts]
    – Submitted by Pete G (9 months ago)
    1. Kim: Mom said your job made you paranoid.
    2. Bryan Mills: Well, my job made me aware.
    – Submitted by Directors C (10 months ago)

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Latest News on Taken

January 17, 2013:
Liam Neeson Is Ready to Run All Night
Neeson will return to the action thriller fold as a hitman on the run from the mob.
August 25, 2011:
The Taken Sequel Will Film in October
Luc Besson says the entire cast will be back.
October 20, 2010:
Pierre Morel Consulting Ouija?
According to the Los Angeles Times' sources, "Taken" director Pierre Morel is the leading candidate...

Foreign Titles

  • 96 Hours (DE)
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