Luc Besson's "Taken"

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David Jimerson said:
That's a lot of supposition, though. It's definitely a rather large loose end. He couldn't stay on the boat; the sultan of whatever country they were from would be very unhappy. He can't really make his way through France; everyone in French law enforcement should be looking for him. Too big of a point just to say "oh, well." IMHO.
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But their escape is not impossible, certainly not for a person with his background. The filmmakers just decided they didn't want to spend time on showing their escape, which I think had less to do with plausibility and more to do with creating a clean emotional catharsis.
 
Maybe, but they sure racheted up the risk and then just let it all go.

Just seemed like a book with a chapter missing.

I read a short story recently where there was a big build-up to this massive, Zulu-type last stand battle -- they were in the fort, the onslaught was massing, and then . . . skip to the victory party.
 
I don't think it was the greatest movie ever made either, but it gripped me for a long portion of its running time, which is more than I can say for most action films these days, where a lot of stuff that I don't care about explodes every five minutes.
 
It is tight movie ,hes not jerking around,straight to the point how it should be and i like this approach very much ,i like that he left the power on in the basement,in other movie hero would forgive and maybe even be friends with the guy and converted bad guy would help him or whatever ,plot twist my a$$.
 
Batutta said:
I don't think it was the greatest movie ever made either, but it gripped me for a long portion of its running time, which is more than I can say for most action films these days, where a lot of stuff that I don't care about explodes every five minutes.
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You know what they say if they dont care about it blow it up :)
 
I found it to be an Islamaphobic and somewhat creepy allegory for a father's protection of his daughter's virginity. It had gripping pacing and editing, but all in all it's a laughable eye-roller.
 
vcassel said:
I found it to be an Islamaphobic and somewhat creepy allegory for a father's protection of his daughter's virginity.
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Because it's creepy to not want your daughter to be kidnapped, raped, drugged, brutalized and prostituted for the rest of her most likely to be short life. I see it as non-allegory about a man protecting his daughter's life and innocence. It's no more a creepy allegory about a man protecting his daughter's virginity than Commando is. And nowhere in the film are the villains stated to be Islamic, or motivated by religion. Islam is not a race.
 
Batutta said:
Because it's creepy to not want your daughter to be kidnapped, raped, drugged, brutalized and prostituted for the rest of her most likely to be short life.
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Because it follows the "my daughter is all alone in the big, scawy world" thing to its psychological extreme? Yeah.

And nowhere in the film are the villains stated to be Islamic, or motivated by religion. Islam is not a race.
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When a section of the world and its nations are founded in a religion's honor, it's not a stretch to understand that Islamophobia is less a fear of ideals and indeed another from of racism. And when you deliberately make a film about a virgin white American girl kidnapped by Albanians and Arabs for purposes of raping her, you're fueling the story's engine with xenophobia--in somewhat the same way that the Hostel films were. It's nothing new, and I found it pretty transparent.
 
vcassel said:
Because it follows the "my daughter is all alone in the big, scawy world" thing to its psychological extreme? Yeah.


When a section of the world and its nations are founded in a religion's honor, it's not a stretch to understand that Islamophobia is less a fear of ideals and indeed another from of racism. And when you deliberately make a film about a virgin white American girl kidnapped by Albanians and Arabs for purposes of raping her, you're fueling the story's engine with xenophobia--in somewhat the same way that the Hostel films were. It's nothing new, and I found it pretty transparent.
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But . . . it actually happens. Human trafficking is a big problem, and it's mostly prostitution.

It's pretty hard to get into it without going into politics, etc., so I don't know how much further this can go, but it's no more xenophobic than depicting other kinds of savagery which actually happen. Almost no Serbians would gun down an entire village, but some did, and depicting that fictionally in a film, as has been done many times, isn't xenophobic.

In the interest of the forum rules, this can't go too much further, but make a counterpoint if you wish and we'll leave it at that.
 
In the interest of the forum rules, this can't go too much further, but make a counterpoint if you wish and we'll leave it at that.
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Sure, I understand. For my part I was throwing a quickie review out there.

David Jimerson said:
Almost no Serbians would gun down an entire village, but some did, and depicting that fictionally in a film, as has been done many times, isn't xenophobic.
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Yeah, but it wasn't about that. It's the juxtaposition between virgin white and evil, plotting non-white in a foreign land that gives it away. Add to that the stereotypical father fear of his daughter going out alone into the world, and you have something that takes that to laughable heights. It most definitely came off as an 'us versus them' revenge fantasy to me.
 
vcassel said:
Yeah, but it wasn't about that. It's the juxtaposition between virgin white and evil, plotting non-white in a foreign land that gives it away.
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Just because the optics of something is racist doesn't mean it actually is racist. Besides, the mastermind behind the whole thing was actually a white European. Therefore the film must also be Europhobic.
 
Batutta said:
Just because the optics of something is racist doesn't mean it actually is racist. Besides, the mastermind behind the whole thing was actually a white European. Therefore the film must also be Europhobic.
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I'd like to oblige David's request to not run this thread off the rails of forum appropriateness. If you'd like to debate my points further, I invite you to PM me. Otherwise expect this debate to be rather one-sided.
 
vcassel said:
I'd like to oblige David's request to not run this thread off the rails of forum appropriateness. If you'd like to debate my points further, I invite you to PM me. Otherwise expect this debate to be rather one-sided.
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Eh...I'll just say I don't think Taken is going to turn anybody into a racist who wasn't already, so what's the fuss? I watched all 8 seasons of 24 and that didn't make me prejudiced against muslims in any way.
 
I saw it quite a while ago. My nephew recommended it to me. It was good. Passed the time. Not going to get too serious about it. It worked as a movie for me.
I had no problems with it. A good enough movie.
 
If you watch this, be sure and watch the European cut (or Extended Edition as it's labeled over here). Far more brutal and engaging. The theatrical cut shown in American is uneven and disappointing in comparison.

It's the juxtaposition between virgin white and evil, plotting non-white in a foreign land that gives it away. Add to that the stereotypical father fear of his daughter going out alone into the world, and you have something that takes that to laughable heights. It most definitely came off as an 'us versus them' revenge fantasy to me.
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No offense, but this take on the film is what is laughable, imo. The sex trade is a thriving industry unfortunately, and despite your obvious bias at making it a racial faux pas, the facts are that the majority of the traders are of darker skin tone, and the majority of those traded are of lighter skin tone. Sometimes reality is just as racial as perceived reality, but that doesnt make it a negative "racist" issue.
 
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