2009 was a massive year for films. Avatar and Harry Potter cleaned up at the box office, while The Reader, Frost/Nixon and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button earned acclaim. Marvel movies weren’t a thing yet. So, it was possible for an action movie to come out of nowhere to become a worldwide phenomenon. And that’s where Taken comes into play.
In Taken, former CIA agent Bryan Mills (Liam Neeson) learns his daughter Kim (Maggie Grace) has been taken hostage in Europe. Upon receiving the ransom request, Mills tells the kidnappers in no uncertain terms that he will find and kill them unless they release his daughter. What follows is a violent, globetrotting adventure as Mills puts his particular set of skills to use in tracking down his daughter’s abductors.
