“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.”
Liam Neeson uttered those words in Taken, following the instantly-classic scene where his daughter is kidnapped.
Act I is over. Time for Act II, motherfuckers.
The marketers knew how powerful those words were, so they edited them into a memorable poster.
Those words had a mighty impact. They turned Liam Neeson into an action star in his late 50s. They were the key to the success of the movie, and the success of the movie demonstrated that there was a thirst out there for exciting movies aimed at adults and older teenagers in the late winter and early spring, a time previously thought of as Hollywood’s dumping ground.
Hollywood has jumped on that. The smash The Hunger Games (early March 2012) likely would have been released in summer or at Christmas, and made less money, had Taken not shown that there were still eager moviegoers that time of year. Liam Neeson scored again in the same release window with the flawed but fascinating The Grey, and director Taylor Hackford and star Jason Statham will be attempting the same thing with Parker next year.
Which makes sense, because there will be, I pray, much for the Taken fan to like in Parker, and there is much for the Parker fan to like in Taken. Determination, revenge, professionalism…I don’t need to detail it because 90% of you reading this have seen the movie.
Taken was excellent. Taken was a hit. Taken is one of my all-time favorite action flicks.
For one of those reasons, Taken is getting a sequel.
If you’ve ever read the classic collection of Joe Bob Briggs’ columns, Joe Bob Goes to the Drive-In, you are familiar with Joe Bob’s rule of sequels:
“If you’re gonna make a sequel, make a sequel. Bring the dead people back to life and do it all over again.”
They aren’t bringing the dead back to life here (no Weekend at Bernie’s 2 is this), but they do the next best thing. The dead dudes’ relatives (instead of the dead dudes) kidnap Liam’s ex-wife (instead of his daughter).
It’s the Joe Bob Briggs approach. It’s the Death Wish 2 approach. Do it all over again.
I’m disappointed, in concept. The character of Bryan Mills has a lot to offer beyond chasing down more-improbable kidnappings of more-improbable relatives.
Go out on a limb! Throw him in a different situation! With different villains!
Is it because they underestimate the audience’s intelligence?
They shouldn’t. To repeat myself, Taken showed that there was a thirst in that release window for exciting movies aimed at adults. The Grey was ambitious and intelligent, and it was a hit. So why do the filmmakers think that audiences are too stupid to figure out that, say, Terror Squad is the sequel to Taken after a trailer that makes that clear, word of mouth, Internet buzz, and the fact that the audience has already demonstrated that it is not stupid and will go see things like Taken and The Grey, so long as they are worth watching? Hell, people figured out that Magnum Force was the sequel to Dirty Harry, and they only had punchcards and terminals back then!
It’s a big mistake. Now they are stuck with Taken 3 and Taken 4 instead of Jade Dragon and Devil’s Playground and a franchise that could go on for many titles rather than inevitably petering out when no one wants to see Great Aunt Tilly get took in Taken 4: The Crackdown.
Yes, I’m a tad hypocritical here for bashing. The trailer is great, and I’ll be there opening night or as close as possible to it. But no matter how good the movie is, it’s a missed opportunity.
Thank God the first James Bond movie didn’t come out these days, else we might have been stuck with Dr. No, Dr. No 2, Dr. No 3…
The Refreshments – “Girly”
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That’s a very good piece of criticism there. I knew that Taken was a surprise hit, but didn’t realize that it had actually altered Hollywood’s release strategy. Your quip about Taken 4 made me laugh out loud. However, I’m not so sure that doing something different is without its own dangers, of turning the franchise into just another generic action vehicle. The conceit of Taken that made it stand out is that he is kind of a schlumpy family man who can’t really keep his family together, but is given the opportunity to restore his fatherly role by kicking ass. I mean yes it is kind of silly that now his wife gets kidnapped (and really should they be taking a vacation in Istanbul; shouldn’t his daughter be in therapy with PTSD?), but I’ll still go and see him kick some Albanian white slaver ass.
Did you make up those titles or is Taken based on a real book?
Yo, that’s what’s up tryulftlhu.
walkerp:
The titles were from looking to my left at my pulp shelf. Terror Squad is a Destroyer novel, Jade Dragon is a Shadow, and Devil’s Playground is Doc Savage. Taken is not based on a book.
I thought about laying down some thoughts about how closely series characters should stick to the formula. Obviously, the formula is part of the appeal. But you can work within a formula without doing a carbon copy. So instead of my idea that you resisted (not unreasonably), how about something like this?:
Because of his special skills, people at the highest levels of the US government keep tabs on Bryan Mills so they know what happened in the first two films. He now has a reputation as a human recovery artist, but they leave him alone, because he’s too important a weapon, and too reluctant a hero, to be deployed unless absolutely necessary.
That day comes when the President’s daughter is kidnapped by [Latin American narco-terrorists / fanatical eco-terrorists / agents of the North Korean government]. This is kept top secret. Only the President, the head of the CIA, and the daughter’s Secret Service detail know. (In an emotional scene halfway through the movie, the First Lady finds out that the President has been keeping this a secret.)
The President tearfully begs Mills for help, and after resisting initially, he agrees, because he is a patriot.
After meeting with the President, Mills is briefed by the head of the CIA, who tells him what Mills already knows is true. The possibility of the President succumbing to blackmail is too high and places the nation in grave danger. If Mills cannot save the President’s daughter–he must liquidate her.
Mills cannot tell his wife (I’m assuming from the trailer to 2 that they remarried) or his daughter what his mission is, only that he is going on one and that he might not come back. His wife erupts into tears and anger. In order that they could be a real family, he had promised not to put himself in harm’s way again. He reneged on the deal. Whether he comes back or not, she’s leaving him, this time for good.
And there’s Taken 3! It sticks to the formula but gets us new villains and a new victim.
(Luc Besson, please contact me via e-mail to arrange for the mailing of the check.)
You couldn’t get a never-ending Bond franchise out of such a formula, but you might get four or five decent action flicks.
It is an interesting topic. How much deviation from the formula are you willing to accept in series books or movies? Series like the three I swiped titles from above had runs over one hundred by sticking real close. The Spenser books kept selling (and the series is being continued posthumously), but I know there was a lot of grumbling amongst the fanbase about some of the changes he went through over the course of the series. (I’m not a Spenser reader, so can’t comment.)
Robert Crais did write a novel called Taken, part of his Elvis Cole series. It does involve searching for a kidnapped daughter but is in Southren California/Mexico and the main character is a private detective not an ex-spy. Good book though.
I forgot to mention it’s not related to the movie. It just came out not to long ago.
Trent, that’s pretty genius.
Wow, you were pretty taken with this, huh;-) lol I know–couldn’t resist. I remember seeing this when it came out in the theaters with a buddy (my GF refuses to see these kinds of movies unless there is absolutely no reality TV on) and we both liked it. I mainly remember how surprised I was when Neeson shot his French friend’s wife. Something Parker would do, eh?;-)
It definitely revitalized Neeson’s career, which is good and bad. The good, we get a Taken 2. the bad, we got Clash of The Titans and Battleship. He’s venturing into Nic Cage waters now, taking anything he’s offered. I will definitely grab a bud and see Taken 2 when it comes out. Should give me a Parker movie fix til the real thing hits screens next year!
P.S. I liked The Gray too, although, God, it was bleak. Didn’t like the fact the producer surprised the cast with Wolf steaks, though. Maybe it’s hypocritical of me to feel angered by that but not a hamburger or Chicken breast … It probably is, but Wolfs are so majestic and handsome (Ye Gods I’m starting to sound like Chris;-) lol
Not sure if the Arctic Wolf is an endangered species, but if it is that A**hole should be in prison.
Hey, Trent, thanks for the tip! This was a film I never would have paid any attention to until your recommendation. I watched it last night and see how it could easily be construed as Parker-like. I’m actually looking forward to the sequel, but from your description it kind of smacks of the tv series 24. You really have to suspend your disbelief to accept that these kind of major dramas keep occuring in one person’s life. I have low expectations but it will probably make for an evening when not much else is on and everything in the library has already been seen, but re:Taken my low expectations were delightfully exceeded in spades! Thanks again!!!
Jeffrey:
Glad you enjoyed it! Lots of the fun of running a website like this is in pointing like-minded folk to things they’ll enjoy, and having them point to things I’ll enjoy, too.