Taken

-by Kim Yonick

A parent's worse nightmare for their teenage daughters.

"Taken" follows the storyline of Kim (Maggie Grace), a seventeen year-old teenager, who begs and pleads with her father, Bryan Mills (Liam Neeson), to go to Paris with her friend Amanda (Katie Cassidy). Things go awry when a spot man meets the girls and gives them a ride to Amanda's cousin's house. Later two men break in and kidnap the girls, while Kim is on the phone with her father. This begins the cycle of Bryan seeking to find his daughter and the connections and techniques from his work he uses to find her.

The cast for "Taken" consisted of Liam Neeson who is known for many of his roles playing Qui-Gon Jinn in "Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace," Godfrey de Ibelin in "Gangs of New York" and even being a voice actor for "The Simpsons." Joining Neeson on screen is Famke Janssen who played Jean Grey in both "X-Men" and "X-Men: The Last Stand." There are also some younger actors on screen, Katie Cassidy and Maggie Grace.

"Taken" consisted of strategic scenes where Neeson was using his training to help get his daughter back. The choreography for the fight scenes were fluent and demonstrated Neeson's strong acting skills. The movie kept straight forward shots without getting too artistic.

Pierre Morel directed "Taken" and "Banlieue 13," but is known for being a cinematographer for many movies such as "War," Danny the Dog" and "Thinning the Herd." Morel is still new to the directing job, but has worked on a lot of different films.

This movie is recommended for people who are action fans or Liam Neeson fans.