Parent Movie Guide, Parental Site.com

	Film Title: Taken		Best for ages: 13 and up.

	Movie Website: Click Here	Year Released: 2009	Rated: PG-13 (US)

SYNOPSIS
Liam Neeson is Bryan Mills, a former CIA agent whom has retired to try to be closer to his estranged daughter Kim (Maggie Grace). He never saw when she was younger and she now lives with his Ex-wife (Famke Janssen) and her millionaire husband. When Kim asks her Dad for his permission to travel to France, he at first refuses to sign a permission slip for her to travel because she is underage. But after thinking it over in an attempt to make things right with Kim, he agrees under a few circumstances. When Kim arrives in Paris, her friend Amanda and her spilt a cab with an unknown guy, whom is part of the sex trade. He then sets them up to be kidnapped, but not before Kim calls her father and leaves him some clues as to who these men are that are kidnapping her. Using his skills as a former government agent, Bryan will travel to Paris to find and rescue his daughter, all while singling handedly shutting down a global sex trade operation.
The Review
Taken is a film that throws every parents (especially fathers) worst nightmare at them. But fortunately many parents would go to the extreme measures that Liam Neeson's characters does in this film in order to save their child from harm. The sex trade is a serious business all over the world and many parents use the "Not my child" act when it comes to such a thing, but the reality of it all is that perfect every day normal girls are kidnapped all the time, they are drugged, their moral is beaten down to nothing, and they become addicts who's lives become dependent on drugs. Taken is a film that not only gives us a great suspenseful action thriller, but also shows us how these disgraceful excuses for human beings run these sex trade operations and the things they do to young girls. Normally I would say that this is probably not a film that you would want your teenager going to see, despite it's PG-13 rating, there are some pretty graphic scenes in which we are subjected to seeing young girls high on drugs and being forced to have sex with strangers. We also see girls being sold at an auction. But probably the most graphic and enjoyable part of the movie is what Liam Neeson's character does to these guys when he gets his hands on them. So, yes there is a lot of graphic violence, especially in the uncut version of the film, but this film has an educational purpose behind it's graphic story in which I think will educate young teenage girls about the people they become friends with, especially while in a place that they are not familiar with. On the flipside, Taken is a very good movie. Its a film that has a lot of action and intense moments and is one that will keep you in your seat all the way though. The film has excellent production value and some great action by its cast. Liam Neeson is not one that many people see as an action star outside the sci-fi fantasy realm with his roles in Star Wars and Batman Begins. Here he plays a real person, a real action hero who's a father that just wants his daughter back and will stop at nothing to get her back. Maggie Grace does a great job in her role as Kim, and Famke Janssen is great as well in a role where you hate her in the beginning, but feel for her at them end. I also have to give credit to each and everyone of the actors who played the villains in this film. I hated them all in their characters as they all really came off as vicious and selfish sex trade dealers. My hats off to them for really capturing the parts of these ruthless human beings. There is two versions of the DVD, a single disc version and a two disc version that contains a ton of special features which also appear on the Blu-ray disc as well. Both the Blu-ray and the Two Disc edition come with a digital copy of the film on the second disc, and includes the following special features. Extended Cut seamlessly branched with Audio commentary with Director Pierre Morel, Writer Robert Mark Kamen, and Cinematographers Michel Abramowicz and Michel Julienne, Exclusive Le “Making Of” featurette. Inside Action: Side by Side Comparisons of: Peter Dies, Bryan Escapes Construction Site, Good Luck, The Interrogation, Bryan at Saint Clair’s, and the Boat Fight. It also includes a feature called Avant Premiere. The Blu-Ray Disc also has feature that includes a Black OPS Field Manual. Overall, While Taken has a lot of violence and adult situations, I think that it's a suitable movie for kids over the age of thirteen to see. I would even recommend that this film be shown to kids younger than thirteen in such a case where the child may think about running away or is giving their parents trouble containing to certain elements that this film has. Taken is a very entertaining film that will have parents routing for Liam Neeson's character Bryan Mills to the very end. It has a great storyline and is every entertaining, but it also is a clear depiction of a reality that we hope our kids never become a part of.
What makes this film rated PG-13.
Violence: Fighting: YES Killing: YES Guns: YES Gun Fights: YES People/Animals being shot (by gun ,arrow or other projectile weapons): YES Stabbing/Strangling: YES Bombings: NO Women harmed/killed: YES Children harmed/killed: YES Domestic Violence: YES Animated Violence: (Cartoon Violence similar to Looney Toons) NO (But some of the ways in which some of the bad guys are killed will make you laugh) Graphic Content: Sex: YES (Non-Graphic) Nudity: NOT REALLY (I didn't really notice any, but I might of missed something, the film after all is about the sex trade.) Partial Nudity (Underwear/bra/bikini): YES Revealing Clothes (Cleavage/low cut shorts/pants): YES Blood: YES Shootings: YES Gore: YES Sickness: YES (Girls are drugged in the film and look very sickly.) Death: YES People Dying: YES Drowning: NO (But a guy is thrown off a boat into a river.) Suicide: NO Police Brutality: YES Corruption: YES Drug Use: YES Alcohol Use: YES Smoking: YES Greed: YES Gambling: NO Language: Insults (Jerk, Idiots etc..) YES Cursing: YES Crude Language: YES Sexual Innuendos: YES Sexual Insults: YES Sexual Come-ons: YES Adult Conversations: YES
BUY THIS MOVIE.