“D-” Rating by Robert W. Hammerle

“Taken” is an utterly contemptible action film that is only saved from total disgrace by its stylish, frantic pace. While my Saudi exchange student, Z, found the movie visually entertaining, that is as much praise as this reprehensible dud deserves.

Liam Neeson, an actor that I hold in high regard, plays a retired CIA Agent with a bottomless appetite for killing. Posturing as an avenging angel, in reality the only thing separating him from Hannibal Lecter is the fact that he does not eat his victims after he tortures them to death.

The excuse for this tasteless revenge flick rests with his vacuous, self-centered daughter being kidnapped while she and a girlfriend are vacationing in Europe. It seems that she has been whisked into the underworld by some shady Albanian characters who seek to sell her as a sex slave.

Of course, this lights dear old divorced dad’s fatherly instincts to save his child, and Neeson proceeds to engage in one of the most objectionable killing sprees you are likely to see on film.

Let me put it this way. When he appears unannounced for dinner at the home of a shady French secret service agent, he casually shoots his old friend’s wife in the arm while they are having dinner in order to coax her horrified spouse into quickly giving up desired information. Along with a few other objections, I found this scene to be an example of extremely poor table manners.

Quite frankly, “Taken” is just some recycled trash that Charles Bronson ran into the ground years ago in the “Death Wish” series. While I know the audience was supposed to respond like Pavlov’s dog, applauding Nesson’s brutality at every turn, I found myself rooting for the Albanians.

Really, how bad could being a sex slave be compared to living with this crazy daddy?