In Theaters
You can tell a lot about a man by watching how he shops for appliances. In the case of Bryan Mills—the ex-secret-operative-whatever whom Liam Neeson plays with dour glee in the speedy and semi-repulsive kidnap thriller that is Taken—audiences get a measure of the kind of man he is by watching him buy just the right karaoke machine for his daughter’s 17th birthday. He’s a careful man, with a penchant for over-planning, but he doesn’t dilly-dally, isn’t afraid to make decisions. So viewers will feel secure knowing that when said daughter gets kidnapped in Paris by Albanian human traffickers, Mills is the guy to go after them and start snapping fingers like so many dry twigs…
For our sins, Taken is playing pretty much everywhere. You can read the full review at this week’s “The Screener” column at PopMatters.
Chris Barsanti 