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Evil Bankers, there’s something you don’t hear about much these days. Clive Owen is always fun to watch. He can make the most predictable and inane thriller almost believable. At least he doesn’t try to be Jason Bourne. Clive always gets beat up or shot up and must like having the cuts and butterfly bandages to add to his character. Maybe he’s trying to downplay his good looks and flesh out the role, I don’t know. I can imagine him and Christian Bale in a curse fest as to how each took him out of ‘the moment’ and ruined the take. I was expecting something a little more interesting, I suppose. This isn’t up to par with Marathon Man or even Michael Clayton, but you might not think it a total waste of time. Did I mention it has Clive Owen in it?

I kind of liked this movie. It reminds me of classic head blowing up movies like Scanners and The Fury. There is not a lot of suspense, but enough action to keep it interesting. The various film techniques used were the best part and director Paul McGuigan is someone to watch. I hope he gets the chance to make a truly original film. The performances were fine. Dakota Fanning is getting older and is somewhat awkward onscreen. Maybe she was miscast, but I’m sure she was part of the deal to make the picture. It’s a toss up. If you like mutants and read your horoscope everyday, you may really like this movie.

I’m an action guy and there is no dearth of action film these days. Every male actor seems to want to try their hand at a James Bond, super-operator, gun wielding, bad ass. Taken follows the mold with few detours. Liam Neeson is adequate as the ex-CIA operative who has 96 hours to find his daughter before she is lost in the underground world of white-slavery. His character is perhaps more brutally efficient than some and he is certainly not afraid of ‘wet work’ as he turns beautiful Paris upside down in his search. The stunts are nothing new. Lots of quick Wing-chun, Aikido and Krav maga style close quarter combatives. I can’t say it was a bad movie, but it wasn’t very interesting either. It was mildly entertaining. If you like action and Liam Neeson, you could do worse.