Luc Besson's "Taken"

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Slow build up, memorable piece of dialogue on the phone, and as soon as he lands in France, arse kicking until the credits... Fantastic movie.
 
Its hard to believe that Besson wrote also 5th element which is very weak movie, his Leon Professional was really great and Taken is in similar genre, i hope he wont stop to write such scipts , would be sad if he would stay in those cartoons hes making now.
What i liked in Taken was a fact that he didnt wrestled with opponents to show off , he just did what had to be done ,no show offs with weapons ,no showoffs with fast cars or womans like in some bond films(which i cant stand), it was good action movie and scene at the table when he said to Marko "you dont remember me , we spoke on the phone 2 days ago" , when i watched first time it was mindblowing , i wish that more action movies were so intense.I hope part 2 is wrote already and will be made.
Script was a little bit different ,but im glad it was changed.Torture scene was great " but its not gonna save you ... tzzzzzt".Thats how action movies should be made.
 
Yeah but its about script not director , actor or anything ,script wrote Besson and i wish he would write more often stuff like this.
I wondering when they will start to appreciate writers not directors of movies.
Oh i see that story was made by besson too this time , but its more like transporter , i prefere more serious scripts from him,transporter 1 was ok but second one was like parody.
 
bwwd said:
Yeah but its about script not director , actor or anything ,script wrote Besson and i wish he would write more often stuff like this.
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That's funny, the script was the weakest part of the film. Pierre's direction elevated the terrible writing and weak plot points and made it great. He's got serious chops.
 
Bad direction could have easily ruined this film. The script didn't direct itself. Is that what you're suggesting?
 
I dont know how much control director had so i cant comment on this ,i can comment on DP work ,sound designers work and actors work,i dont believe that director can make the film flop or fail , its mostly about good script ,look of the film and actors performances.OR i didnt saw any examples of great scripts but terrible movies made from them.
 
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I liked La Femme Nikita, and I did like District B-13, but I think both guys' films haven't been as great in their American iterations. Taken was pretty right on though.
 
Isaac_Brody said:
I thought it was because of direction and Liam Neeson.
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Agreed. Great casting. Gladiator, for example, is another comparable film. If Gladiator didn't have Crowe, Phoenix as the main leads, the movie would lose much of its appeal. Just look at what happened to Kingdom of Heaven with Bloom as the lead- bad casting call.
 
Watched this on Netflix. A ruthlessly efficient action thriller that does exactly what it promises and nothing more. I enjoyed it, admiring its monomaniacal commitment to one idea. I also appreciated that they didn't feel the need to open with a giant action setpiece. They let this one build slowly so you got invested in the characters. However the writing in these early scenes was kind of perfunctory and some of the weaker stuff, but the actors make it work. Once the film got going though it kept me on the edge of my seat. I have a young daughter so it was incredibly easy for this film to manipulate my emotions. If you have a young daughter and this film doesn't grab you by the throat, you're not human.
 
I love that it doesn't start with a bang as well. It's important for this film IMO. Simply because you have no idea of what his abilities are until he's forced to reveal them. Makes him that much more interesting to watch as it develops.

It's like the entire film is a big set up for his character. You learn more and more, from his interactions with the frenchman, and how he approaches the whole situation.
 
I'd give it a C+. It wasn't a waste of time, but it wasn't particularly memorable.

Large plot problem (possible spoiler): the government of France, and one official in particular, are very, very angry at him, and he's guilty of numerous crimes, yet he just hopped on a commercial flight home just as simple as that.
 
David Jimerson said:
Large plot problem (possible spoiler): the government of France, and one official in particular, are very, very angry at him, and he's guilty of numerous crimes, yet he just hopped on a commercial flight home just as simple as that.
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It was never shown where he left from, though. He was on a boat last, then in an airport arriving home. With his connections he could have gotten to another country, then taken off from there. If he was an ordinary human it would seem less plausible to me...But he had unique skills so I take it as a given that he would have had an exit strategy.
 
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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