The thrilling movie that launched Liam Neeson’s action career
Year: 2008
Certificate: 18
Watch now on Disney+
Liam Neeson is the wrong dad to mess with in this gripper of a thriller, which has seen two sequels and a spin-off TV series since, not to mention launching the entire second act of Neeson’s career as an action hero while he was in his mid-50s. This second act has lasted a long time – almost two decades, with the actor claiming during interviews for The Naked Gun in 2025 that, in his early seventies, he was now ready to knock it on the head: ‘I don’t want to be doing that stuff with a Zimmer frame or walking stick.’
Back to where it all began on Taken, though, and on that fateful trip to Europe for 17-year-old Kim during which she is snatched from her Paris hotel room. Her dad Bryan (Neeson) – an ex-CIA man with ‘a very particular set of skills’ – sets off in hot pursuit of the abductors, who will regret the day they ever doubted those skills. Co-written by Luc Besson (The Fifth Element) and directed by Pierre Morel (Canary Black), Taken remains arguably the peak of Neeson’s second act, and certainly of the franchise it created. Look out for Holly Valance as the pop star Bryan is hired to protect early on. (90 minutes)
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