96 Hours

Wow - I had already read reviews of this movie, and with the writer being one of my favourite directors, Luc Besson, I just had to go see this movie as soon as possible...

I was not disappointed... I'm not sure if this was intentional but there were no trailers before the movie, so being thrown strait into the film unexpectedly with people whispering "is this it then ?" only helping build up some initial tension and excitement.

The film starts nicely, but with overtones of spy thrillers like "Day of the Jackal" coming to mind. Neeson seems a bit pityful at the start, but soon overturns that impression with a taste of his handywork after around ten minutes of the thriller.

Then, before you know it, it's over. 93 minutes, gone in a blur of fighting, fear, chasing and excitement at serious pace. The artwork and direction is nicely done, giving you the feeling of being the one attacking and the chair squirming feeling of being the poor gits who get annihilated in almost every way possible.

It was one of those films that I wanted to applause after the film, I actually clapped about three times, but no-one joined in... too afraid of being the only two people clapping I suppose...

Neeson was great, and I can't wait to see the movie many more times. I only gave it 9 out of 10, as it was too short ! The film could have been easily stretched to 2 hours in my opinion, with some more development and intimacy with the characters. But I guess this may have not made it so exciting... still, well worth the money to see this in the big screen.

It was an interesting movie, I wish there wasn't a sequel.

Much of what occurs in Liam Neeson thriller Taken is incredibly implausible, but with suspension of disbelief turned up to eleven, the film proves to be an extremely satisfying viewing experience—a brutal action flick that effectively exploits that most basic of human emotions: the desire to see the wicked punished.

Neeson stars as ex-special forces operative Bryan Mills, who kicks seven shades of the proverbial out of the Albanian human traffickers who are stupid enough to kidnap his teenage daughter Kim (Maggie Grace).

Although the film's star is well into his fifties, Neeson shows no sign of taking it easy in his old age, kicking, punching and blasting his way around Paris with the energy and power of man 20 years his junior. Director Pierre Morel conducts all of this mayhem with style, and doesn't skimp on the nastier stuff, having Mills mercilessly torture his victims for information, kill without a moment's hesitation, and generally act like a total bad-ass—enough of a bad-ass to make it easy to forgive the film's sillier aspects.

7.5 out of 10, rounded up to 8 for IMDb.

The most thrilling movie I've seen in a long time. Neeson is what we would fear if James Bond went to hell and came back for revenge (I doubt big budget Quantum of Solace will top this). I loved Jason Bourne; but where Bourne is confused for half the movie, Neeson is looking down a barrel of a pistol 3/4 of the time. In a three way spy battle, I would put Neeson edging out Bourne, who would be a step ahead of Bond.

Between the jaw-dropping action sequences was the subject matter of international trafficking, which was pretty miserable to watch. Although killing is wrong, death was never more satisfying to watch.

I saw this movie tonight at the sneak preview and I was completely surprised and blown away. I went to see this movie with no expectations. In the beginning it seems that it was going to be an easy to watch movie, but after a short time it turned into a high-speed action movie. I found the story original and so did my friends. At some times I found it hard to watch, because of the drug abuse and violence. To know that these practices still occur also gave me a horrible feeling. I was completely taken away by this movie. At some points it was very very quiet in the cinema, because of the excitement, you wonder what is going to happen next. Some moments in the story I found a bit not convincing, but the rest of the movie makes up to that. Liam Neeson in one of his best performances. It had good action, a good story, some humor. There are also some sensitive / sentimental scenes. There are no plot twists. It is just a story being told. This is one of those movies which stay in your memory for a while and let you think about bad things that happen. The movie that had that same effect on me was Traffic (2000). Personally I think this movie is underrated, but maybe this is because it is new. I would give it 8/10.