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Originaltitel: Taken Genre: Action, Thriller Ex-Topagent Bryan Mills (Liam Neeson) hat den Dienst quittiert, weil seine Ehe mit Lenore (Famke Janssen) deshalb zerbrach. 2.1: Sharknado 4: The 4th Awakens: 4.6. 96 Hours - Taken 2 stream online anschauen. 96 Hours - Taken 2 in HD download! 414.643.170 Downloads. Tips and tricks you didn't know you could do with Google for on the go, at work and having fun.

Taken 3 (sometimes stylized as Tak3n^[4][5]) is a 2014 FrenchEnglish-languageaction thriller film directed by Olivier Megaton and written by Luc Besson and Robert Mark Kamen. It is the third and final installment in the Taken trilogy. The film stars Liam Neeson, Forest Whitaker, Maggie Grace and Famke Janssen.

The film was released in France on 21 January 2015 and in the United States on 9 January 2015, by 20th Century Fox. It received generally unfavorable reviews from critics and grossed $326 million worldwide.

• 3Production
• 4Release

Plot[edit]

Former covert operative Bryan Mills visits his daughter, Kim, to deliver an early birthday gift. After an awkward visit, he invites his ex-wife, Lenore, to dinner. Although she declines, she shows up at his apartment and tells him about her marital problems. He agrees to let her try to work things out with her current husband Stuart.Stuart comes to see Bryan and asks him never to see his wife again—despite the fact he is aware they have a daughter together. Without Bryan's knowledge he uses his phone to arrange a meeting with Lenore making out it is Bryan that wants to meet her then promptly deletes the message after it is sent. It is in this location she gets kidnapped.

The following day, Bryan receives a text from Lenore asking to meet him for breakfast. After Bryan purchases some bagels for breakfast, he returns to his apartment to discover Lenore's lifeless body. L.A.P.D. units immediately appear and try to arrest him, but he resists and escapes. Meanwhile, L.A.P.D. Inspector Frank Dotzler reads up on Bryan's background and issues an APB for him.

96 Hours Taken 2 Deutsch Google Maps

Bryan retreats to a safe house equipped with weapons and surveillance electronics. He retraces Lenore's final movements to a remote gas station and convenience store where he finds surveillance footage of her being abducted by unidentified men with distinctive hand tattoos, but L.A.P.D. detectives arrive and arrest him. While in transit, Bryan frees himself, hijacks the police cruiser, escapes, and downloads phone records from an L.A.P.D. database onto a thumb drive. He contacts Kim at Lenore's funeral via a camera hidden in his friend Sam's suit, instructing her to maintain her 'very predictable schedule.' She purchases her daily yogurt drink with a 'Drink Me Now' note which, unknown by her, is drugged by Bryan. During a lecture, she feels nauseated and runs to the bathroom where Bryan is waiting. He surprises her and gives her the antidote to the drug. Bryan removes a surveillance bug that, unknown to her, was planted by Dotzler. He tells her that he is looking for the real murderer and that she should keep safe. Kim tells Bryan that she is pregnant and that Stuart is acting scared and has hired bodyguards; which he has never done before.

Bryan follows Stuart's car but is ambushed by a pursuing SUV that pushes his car over the edge of a cliff. He survives the crash, hijacks a car, follows the attackers to a roadside liquor store and kills them. Bryan then abducts and interrogates Stuart, who confesses that Lenore's murder was caused by his failure to repay a debt to his former business partner and ex-Spetsnaz operative Oleg Malankov and that he exposed Bryan's identity to Malankov out of jealousy.

With assistance from his old colleagues and a nervous Stuart, Bryan gains entry to Malankov's heavily secured penthouse. After killing the guards, a furious gun battle, and a brutal fight, a mortally wounded Malankov reveals that all that happened was a setup: Stuart planned Lenore's murder and framed Bryan as part of a business deal to collect on a $12,000,000 insurance policy. Malankov adds that when he failed to kill Bryan, Stuart used Bryan to kill Malankov and keep the insurance money. Meanwhile, Stuart injures Sam, and abducts Kim, intending to flee with the money. Under police pursuit, Bryan arrives at the airport in Malankov's Porsche as Stuart's plane is preparing for take-off. After destroying the landing gear with the car, preventing the plane from taking off, Bryan overpowers Stuart and prepares to kill him but pauses at Kim's pleas. He tells Stuart to expect final punishment if he escapes justice or completes a reduced prison sentence. Dotzler and the LAPD arrive to arrest Stuart. Bryan is cleared of all charges.

In the aftermath of Stuart's arrest, Kim, who is pregnant, informs Bryan that she wants to name her baby after her mother if it is a girl.

Cast[edit]

• Liam Neeson as Bryan Mills
• Forest Whitaker as Inspector Frank Dotzler
• Maggie Grace as Kim Mills^[6]
• Famke Janssen as Lenore Mills-St. John^[7]
• Dougray Scott as Stuart St. John
• Sam Spruell as Oleg Malankov
• Leland Orser as Sam Gilroy^[8]
• Jon Gries as Mark Casey^[8]
• David Warshofsky as Bernie Harris
• Jonny Weston as Jimmy^[9]
• Don Harvey as Detective Garcia
• Dylan Bruno as Detective Smith
• Al Sapienza as Detective Johnson

Production[edit]

On 28 September 2012, Liam Neeson said that there would not be a third film, or that the chances of Taken 3 happening were minimal.^[10] Later, in October 2012, the screenwriters for the first two films told Hollywood that 20th Century Fox and EuropaCorp wanted them to do a third film, but it would go in another direction.^[11] As of 24 June 2013, the script was being written by the film writers, but no director was set.^[12] On 12 March 2014, Maggie Grace joined the cast,^[6] followed by closing a deal with Famke Janssen the next day.^[7] On 24 March 2014, Leland Orser also returned to play his character, as did Jon Gries.^[8] On 31 March 2014, Jonny Weston signed on to appear in the film as Kim's boyfriend.^[9]

Filming[edit]

Principal photography of the film began on 29 March 2014 in Los Angeles,^[13] as well as in Atlanta.^[14] On 8 April 2014, Neeson was spotted shooting some scenes in Los Angeles.^[15] On 24 April 2014, filming began in Covington, Georgia, where they filmed scenes at Newton College & Career Academy lasting for two days from 24 to 25 April.^[16]

Music[edit]

Nathaniel Méchaly was set to score the film.^[17]

Track listing[edit]

All songs written and composed by Nathaniel Méchaly except where noted.^[18][19]

Release[edit]

A trailer of Taken 3 the film saw its release on January 1, 2015 in Hong Kong and South Korea; on January 8, the film was released in the UK, in Spain on January 16, in France on January 21 and on February 12 in Italy.^[20]

20th Century Fox released the film on 9 January 2015 in the United States.^[21] The film was released under the title of 'Taken 3 – L'ora della verità' in Italy, 'Búsqueda implacable 3' in Mexico, 'V3nganza' in Spain, '96 Hours -- Taken 3' in Germany and 'Заложница 3' in Russia.^[20]

Taken 3 employed a 'somewhat unconventional' marketing strategy with business-focused social network LinkedIn selecting one fan to have his or her 'particular set of LinkedIn skills' endorsed by Liam Neeson's character Mills (a nod to a line in the first Taken, where Mills outlined his 'very particular set of skills').^[22]

Box office[edit]

The film grossed $89.3 million in North America and $236.5 million in other territories for a worldwide gross of $326.4 million, against a budget of $55 million.^[3]

In North America, the film earned $14.7 million on its opening day (including previews), which is the fourth-highest opening day for a film released in January behind 2015's American Sniper ($30.5 million), 2008's Cloverfield ($17.16 million) and 2012's The Devil Inside ($16.8 million).^[23][24] It topped the box office in its opening weekend with $39.2 million against a $38 – $39 million projection,^[23][25][26] making it the second highest debut in the Taken franchise behind Taken 2 ($49 million) and the fourth-highest January opening of all time behind American Sniper ($89.2 million), Ride Along ($41.5 million) and Cloverfield ($40.1 million).^[27][28]

Outside North America, the film opened a week prior to its US debut in South Korea and Hong Kong, and earned $8 million and $1.27 million, respectively, for a total of $9.34 million.^[29] In its actual opening weekend outside of North America, the film was #2 behind Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb, earning $41 million from 4,730 screens in 36 markets. Highest international openings were witnessed in the UK and Malta ($10.86 million) and Australia ($4.8 million). It also went #1 in Taiwan, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand.^[30] The film opened to first place in the UK with $5.5 million, and debuted in Germany with $4.4 million, Russia with $2.2 million, Philippines with $2.5 million, which is the second-biggest opening ever for 20th Century Fox, and Spain with $1.2 million.^[31]

Critical response[edit]

The film was poorly received by critics, with most of the criticisms directed at the film's action sequences, plot, direction, and film editing, though the acting was praised.^[32] On Rotten Tomatoes the film holds a rating of 12%, based on 115 reviews, with an average rating of 3.6/10, becoming the worst-rated film of the trilogy. The site's critical consensus reads, 'Hampered by toothless PG-13 action sequences, incoherent direction, and a hackneyed plot, Taken 3 serves as a clear signal that it's well past time to retire this franchise.'^[33] On Metacritic the film has a score of 26 out of 100, based on 30 critics, indicating 'generally unfavorable reviews.'^[34]

Nicolas Rapold of The New York Times gave the film a negative rating, writing, 'The logy screenplay, by Luc Besson and Robert Mark Kamen, sags under head-clutchingly banal dramatic scenes. Only Liam Neeson's appeal somehow survives unscathed, perhaps the most impressive stunt of all.'^[35] Maggie Lee of Variety also went negative for the film, saying, 'The third and presumably final installment of the Liam Neeson action franchise is a mind-numbing, crash-bang misfire'.^[36] Betsy Sharkey of the Los Angeles Times, giving the film a negative review, writes, 'Taken 3 is so unintentionally hilarious I couldn't help but wonder -- do movie contracts carry a humiliation bonus clause these days?'^[37] Joe Neumaier of New York Daily News gave the film 0 stars out of 5, saying, 'Here it's the audience that gets taken'.^[38]

Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle gave the film a negative review, saying, 'If you love the other Taken movies, you will like this. But if you're determined to love it, you'll have to talk yourself into it -- and even then, it might not work.'^[39] Ignatiy Vishnevetsky of The A.V. Club gave the film a C- grade, stating, 'Because Mills' hyper-competence never seems exciting, it instead becomes giggle-inducing.'^[40] Peter Travers of Rolling Stone gave the film zero stars, commenting, 'Be warned, sequel fanboys: This thing sucks! At 62, Neeson still has a glare that means badass. Nothing else makes a damn lick of sense. The only thing getting taken is the audience.'^[41]

Conversely, the film received a more positive review from Amy Nicholson of LA Weekly, who gave the film a grade of C, saying, 'All you need to know about Taken 3 is that Liam Neeson survives an explosive car crash -- twice'.^[42] Kyle Anderson of Entertainment Weekly also went positive with the review by giving the film a B- grade, commenting, 'It's the weakest of the trilogy, but Taken 3 kicks just hard enough to survive another day.'^[43]

In CinemaScore polls conducted during the opening weekend, cinema audiences gave Taken 3 an average grade of 'B+' on an A+ to F scale, the same as its predecessor's .^[28]

Accolades[edit]

References[edit]

1. ^'Taken 3 (12A)'. British Board of Film Classification. 18 December 2014. Retrieved 18 December 2014.
2. ^https://en.unifrance.org/movie/38200/taken-3
3. ^ ^abc'Taken 3 (2015)'. Box Office Mojo (IMDB). Retrieved 10 November 2015.
4. ^'Taken 3 or Tak3n? Switching letters for numbers'. Oxford Dictionary. Retrieved 9 January 2015.
5. ^'Liam Neeson has 'Tak3n' things 2 far'. The Verge. 23 September 2014. Retrieved 10 January 2015.
6. ^ ^abAndreeva, Nellie (12 March 2014). 'Maggie Grace Closes Deal For 'Taken 3′'. deadline.com. Retrieved 30 March 2014.
7. ^ ^abFleming Jr, Mike (13 March 2014). 'Famke Janssen Locked For 'Taken 3′'. deadline.com. Retrieved 30 March 2014.
8. ^ ^abc'Leland Orser Returns For 'Taken 3′'. deadline.com. 24 March 2014. Retrieved 30 March 2014.
9. ^ ^abKroll, Justin (31 March 2014). 'Jonny Weston Joins Fox's 'Taken 3′'. Variety. Retrieved 31 March 2014.
10. ^Plumb, Ali (28 September 2012). 'Liam Neeson Casts Doubt On Taken 3'. empireonline.com. Retrieved 30 March 2014.
11. ^Patches, Matt (9 October 2012). ''Taken 2' Writer Talks Sequelizing, Says Success Means 'Taken 3' Is On'. hollywood.com. Retrieved 30 March 2014.
12. ^'Nobody gets 'Taken''. bleedingcool.com. 1 February 2014. Retrieved 30 March 2014.
13. ^Keslassy, Elsa (28 March 2014). 'EuropaCorp's 'Taken 3′ Takes Off With International Distribs'. variety.com. Retrieved 30 March 2014.
14. ^Brett, Jennifer (28 March 2014). ''Taken 3' to film in Atlanta'. accessatlanta.com. Retrieved 30 March 2014.
15. ^Leyfield, James (9 April 2014). 'Bryan Mills is back and ready for action! Liam Neeson starts filming Taken 3 in Los Angeles'. dailymail.co.uk. Retrieved 10 April 2014.
16. ^Christine (22 April 2014). ''Taken 3' filming in Covington, GA this week, Extras needed'. onlocationvacations.com. Retrieved 26 April 2014.
17. ^'Nathaniel Mechaly to Return for 'Taken 3′'. filmmusicreporter.com. 30 September 2014. Retrieved 31 October 2014.
18. ^'Taken 3 (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)'. amazon.com. Amazon.com. Retrieved 22 January 2015.
19. ^'Taken 3 Soundtrack List'. soundtrackmania.com. Retrieved 22 January 2015.
20. ^ ^ab'Taken 3 Release'. imdb.com. IMDB. Retrieved 7 February 2015.
21. ^Ellwood, Gregory (21 March 2014). 'New 'Wolverine,' 'Fantastic Four 2' and 'Taken 3' get release dates'. hitfix.com. Retrieved 30 March 2014.
22. ^Entis, Laura (12 December 2014). 'Here's How to Get Liam Neeson to Endorse You on LinkedIn (Yes, Really.)'. Entrepreneur. Retrieved 12 February 2015.
23. ^ ^abAnthony D'Alessandro (10 January 2015). ''Taken 3′ Takes No. 1 With Explosive $14.7M, 'Selma' Marches 2ND – Late Friday B.O.'Deadline.com. Retrieved 10 January 2015.
24. ^Pamela McClintock (9 January 2015). 'Box Office: Liam Neeson's 'Taken 3' Scores Strong $1.6M Thursday Night'. The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 10 January 2015.
25. ^Maane Khatchatourian (10 January 2015). 'Box Office: Liam Neeson's 'Taken 3′ Targeting $38.5 Million Weekend'. Variety. Retrieved 11 January 2015.
26. ^Scott Mendelson (10 January 2015). 'Box Office: 'Taken 3' Takes $14.7M Friday For Likely $39M Weekend Take'. Forbes. Retrieved 11 January 2015.
27. ^Anthony D'Alessandro (12 January 2015). ''Taken 3′ Box Office Posts Third-Highest January Bow, 2015 Off By 1.1% – Monday Actuals'. Retrieved 13 January 2015.
28. ^ ^abRay Subers (11 January 2015). 'Weekend Report: 'Taken 3' Scores Third-Highest January Opening Ever'. Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 13 January 2015.
29. ^Nancy Tartaglione (4 January 2015). ''Hobbit' Passes $500M; 'American Sniper', 'Taken 3′ Skillful: Intl Box Office Update'. Deadline.com. Retrieved 5 January 2015.
30. ^Nancy Tartaglione (11 January 2015). 'Strong Weekend For Fox, Clint Eastwood At International Box Office'. Deadline.com. Retrieved 12 January 2015.
31. ^'Around-the-World Roundup: 'Taken' Repeats, 'Hobbit' Hits $800 Million'. boxofficemojo.com. IMDB. Retrieved 22 January 2015.
32. ^Oliver Gettell (9 January 2015). ''Taken 3': Liam Neeson franchise is due for retirement, reviews say'. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 10 January 2015.
33. ^'Taken 3'. Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 29 April 2019.
34. ^'Taken 3 Reviews'. Metacritic. Retrieved 1 February 2015.
35. ^'Another Avenging Rampage'. nytimes.com. Retrieved 7 February 2015.
36. ^'Film Review: 'Taken 3''. Variety. Retrieved 7 February 2015.
37. ^''Taken 3's' Liam Neeson fires up action, and unintended laughs'. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 7 February 2015.
38. ^''Taken 3': movie review'. New York Daily News. Retrieved 7 February 2015.
39. ^''Taken 3': Likable, not lovable, Neeson action movie'. San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 7 February 2015.
40. ^'The trilogy-capping Taken 3 is action-movie slop'. The A.V. Club. Retrieved 7 February 2015.
41. ^'Taken 3'. Rolling Stone. Retrieved 7 February 2015.
42. ^'BEST THING IN TAKEN 3: THE WAY LIAM NEESON SAYS 'BAGELS''. LA Weekly. Retrieved 7 February 2015.
43. ^'Taken 3'. Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 7 February 2015.
44. ^'WINNERS OF TEEN CHOICE 2015 ANNOUNCED'. Teen Choice Awards. FOX. 16 August 2015. Archived from the original on 18 August 2015. Retrieved 17 August 2015.
45. ^'People's Choice Awards - Nominations 2016'. Retrieved 7 November 2015.

External links[edit]

• Taken 3 on IMDb
• Taken 3 at the Internet Movie Firearms Database

Taken is a 2008 FrenchEnglish-language action thriller film written by Luc Besson and Robert Mark Kamen, and directed by Pierre Morel. It stars Liam Neeson, Maggie Grace, Famke Janssen, Katie Cassidy, Leland Orser, and Holly Valance. Neeson plays Bryan Mills, a former CIA operative who sets about tracking down his teenage daughter Kim (Grace) and her best friend Amanda (Cassidy) after the two girls are kidnapped by Albanian human traffickers while traveling in France during a vacation.

Taken grossed more than $226 million. Numerous media outlets have cited the film as a turning point in Neeson's career that redefined and transformed him to an action film star.^[5][6][7] The first film in the Taken franchise, Taken was followed by two sequels—Taken 2 and Taken 3—released in 2012 and 2014, respectively. A television series for the series premiered in 2017 on NBC, with Clive Standen portraying Bryan Mills.

• 4Music
• 5Reception

Plot[edit]

Retired CIA field agent Bryan Mills attempts to build a closer relationship with his 17-year-old daughter Kim, who lives with her mother Lenore and her wealthy stepfather Stuart. While overseeing security at a concert for pop star Sheerah, Bryan saves the musician from an armed attacker. Out of gratitude, Sheerah offers to have Kim assessed as a singer. Before Bryan can tell her about the offer, Kim asks her father for permission to travel to Paris with her best friend Amanda. As he's wary about Kim's safety since she wants to go on without him, he initially refuses, but eventually gives in to her demands. At the airport, Bryan learns the girls are actually planning to follow U2 during their European tour.

Upon arriving at Charles de Gaulle Airport, Kim and Amanda meet Peter, an attractive young Frenchman who offers to share a taxi. Kim and Amanda go to Amanda's cousins' apartment, where Kim finds out the cousins are in Spain. While she makes a call to Bryan, Kim sees men enter the apartment and abduct Amanda. Kim follows her father's instructions to hide and listen closely. After she is dragged out from underneath a bed, Kim yells a description of her abductor. Bryan hears a person breathing heavily and, realizing one of the abductors has picked up the phone, tells him that he will not go after the kidnappers if they release his daughter, but warns them that failure will result in their deaths. A man tersely replies, 'Good luck.'

Sam, an old friend and former colleague of Bryan, deduces that the kidnappers are part of an Albanian sex trafficking ring and identifies the man as Marko Hoxha. Based on previous history, Kim will disappear for good if not found within 96 hours. Bryan flies to Paris, breaks into the apartment and finds Peter's reflection in a picture on Kim's phone. He finds Peter at the airport, trying to charm a solo female traveller and tries to capture him. While trying to make his escape, Peter gets hit by a truck. With his only lead dead, Bryan turns to an old contact, former French intelligence agent Jean-Claude Pitrel, who now has a desk job. Jean-Claude informs him of the local red-light district where the Albanian prostitution ring operates, but warns him not to get involved. Bryan enters a makeshift brothel in a construction yard, where he rescues a drugged young woman who has Kim's denim jacket. After a gunfight and high-speed chase with the brothel's operators, Bryan takes the woman to a hotel where he treats her with improvised detoxification.

The next morning, the woman tells Bryan of a safehouse where she and Kim were kept. Posing as Jean-Claude, Bryan enters the house under the pretense of re-negotiating the police protection rate. When he identifies Marko Hoxha by making him repeat the same phrase as on the phone, the meeting erupts into a fight that results in the death of all the gangsters except Marko. A quick search reveals several heavily drugged girls, including a dead Amanda. Bryan ties Marko into a makeshift electric chair and interrogates him using parrilla. Marko reveals that virgins like Kim are sold quickly due to their prized value, and identifies the buyer as Patrice Saint-Clair. Bryan leaves him to die from continuous electrocution and visits Jean-Claude's apartment that evening. Having discovered Jean-Claude's corruption, Bryan injures the latter's wife to coerce him into disclosing Saint-Clair's location.

Bryan infiltrates a covert sex slave auction underway beneath Saint-Clair's manor, where Kim is the subject of the last sale. Bryan forces Ali, an Arab bidder, to purchase her. While making his way out, Bryan is knocked out and chained to a pipe, but manages to escape and eliminate Saint-Clair's henchmen. Saint-Clair reveals a yacht owned by a client named Raman before Bryan kills him. Bryan pursues the yacht and eliminates the bodyguards, including Ali, before encountering Raman in his suite where he is holding Kim at knifepoint. When Raman attempts to negotiate, Bryan kills him with a headshot. Back in the United States, Kim is reunited with Lenore and Stuart. Lenore reconciles with Bryan and allows him to bond with Kim by visiting Sheerah together.

Cast[edit]

• Liam Neeson as Bryan Mills
• Maggie Grace as Kim Mills
• Famke Janssen as Lenore Mills-St John
• Katie Cassidy as Amanda
• Leland Orser as Sam Gilroy
• Jon Gries as Mark Casey
• David Warshofsky as Bernie Harris
• Holly Valance as Sheerah
• Xander Berkeley as Stuart St John
• Olivier Rabourdin as Jean-Claude Pitrel
• Gérard Watkins as Patrice Saint-Clair
• Arben Bajraktaraj as Marko Hoxha
• Camille Japy as Isabelle
• Nicolas Giraud as Peter
• Goran Kostić as Gregor
• Nabil Massad as Raman
• Jalil Naciri as Ali

Production[edit]

The film was produced by Luc Besson's EuropaCorp.^[8] Pierre Morel had previously worked as a director of photography for Besson, and they had also collaborated on Morel's directorial debut, District 13. Besson pitched the idea of Taken one night over dinner and Morel immediately became attached to the idea of a father fighting to protect his daughter.^[9]Jeff Bridges was first cast as Bryan Mills, but after he dropped out of the project, Liam Neeson accepted the part, desiring to play a more physically demanding role than he was used to. Neeson at first thought the film to be no more than a 'little side road' for his career, expecting it to be released directly to video.^[10]

Music[edit]

The score of the film was composed by Nathaniel Méchaly and released on 27 January 2009.^[11]

Soundtrack[edit]

All songs written and composed by Nathaniel Méchaly except where noted.^[12][13]

Reception[edit]

A trailer of Taken was released on 20 June 2008.^[14] The film saw its release on 27 February in France, 9 April in China and 26 September in UK in the year of 2008. It was released on 30 January in United States and 22 August in Japan in the year of 2009.^[15] The film was released under the title of 96 Hours in Germany, Io vi troverò (I Will Find You) in Italy and Заложница (Hostage) in Russia.^[15]

Box office[edit]

Taken grossed $145 million in the North America and $81.8 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $226.8 million, against a production budget of $25 million.^[4]

On its opening day in the North America, the film grossed $9.4 million, scoring the best opening day ever for Super Bowl weekend.^[16] It went on to make $24.7 million during its opening weekend playing in 3,183 theaters, with a $7,765 per-theatre average and ranking #1, which was the second highest Super Bowl opening weekend, at the time, behind Hannah Montana and Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert ($31.1 million).^[17] The film is also the highest grossing among the Taken films in North America.^[18]

The biggest market in other territories being South Korea, UK, France, Australia and Spain where the film grossed $15.47 million, $11.27 million, $9.43 million, $6.28 million, and $5.46 million respectively.^[19]

Critical response[edit]

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a rating of 58%, based on 170 reviews, with an average rating of 5.8/10. The site's critical consensus reads, 'Taken is undeniably fun with slick action, but is largely a brainless exercise.'^[20] On Metacritic, the film has a score of 50 out of 100, based on 31 critics, indicating 'mixed or average reviews'.^[21]

Richard Corliss of Time said the film 'has nothing more on its mind than dozens of bad guys getting beat up and another one turned into instant roadkill.'^[22]The Washington Post described the film as 'a satisfying little thriller as grimly professional as its efficient hero' and likened the action to the Bourne film series.^[23] Derek Elley of Variety described the film as a 'kick ass, pedal-to-the-metal actioner [...] that wisely doesn't give the viewer any time to ponder the string of unlikely coincidences [...] the film has the forward, devil-may-care momentum of a Bond film on steroids.'^[24]

Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times described the film's premise as 'unintentionally silly at times [...] Obviously, 'Taken' is not the kind of action film to spend much time worrying about its pedestrian script or largely indifferent acting, so it's fortunate to have Neeson in the starring role.' Bryan Mills is characterized as 'relentless attack machine who is impervious to fists, bullets and fast-moving cars, he uses a variety of martial arts skills to knock out more opponents than Mike Tyson and casually kill those he doesn't KO'.^[25]

CinemaScore polls conducted during the opening weekend, cinema audiences gave the film an average grade of 'A' on an A+ to F scale.^[26]

Controversy[edit]

In 2011, a self-proclaimed counter-terrorism expert was convicted of wire fraud after claiming the film was based on a real-life incident in which his daughter was killed. William G. Hillar, who pretended to be a retired Green Beret colonel, claimed to have spent more than 12 years lecturing US government agencies such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation on security issues. However, records revealed he had actually been a radar operator in the Coast Guard Reserve between 1962 and 1970, and had never been in the US Army. Nevertheless, his website claimed Taken was based on events involving him and his family. Hillar, who admitted the charges, was sentenced to 500 hours of community service at Maryland State Veteran Cemeteries. He also agreed to repay $171,000 in speaking fees that he had received from various organizations to which he had presented himself as an expert in terrorism and human trafficking.^[27]

In 2019, in an attempt to lure tourists and counter the negative perception of Albanians in the Western media, the Albanian government together with foreign donors produced a tourism spot entitled Be Taken by Albania, where Liam Neeson was asked to visit Albania and explore the country's culture, gastronomy and tourism hotspots.^[28][29]

Awards[edit]

96 Hours Taken 2

Home media[edit]

Taken was released as 'Taken (Single-Disc Extended Edition)' on DVDs on 12 May 2009 and on Blu-ray on 9 December 2014. The film also saw release of 'Taken (Two-Disc Extended Edition)' on DVDs and Blu-ray Discs on 12 May 2009.^[30] As of 5 February 2015, the film has sold 5,388,963 DVDs and 607,073 Blu-ray Discs and grossing $79,798,171 and $10,069,116 respectively totaling $89,867,287 in North America.^[31]

In popular culture[edit]

• In May 2012, the plot of 'Leggo My Meg-O', the twentieth episode of the tenth season of the TV series Family Guy, is based on Taken.^[32] In 'Brian's a Bad Father', Brian mentions that having Zooey Deschanel cast as the daughter in Taken would be thinking outside the box. A cutaway gag then depicts Bryan Mills (reprised by Liam Neeson) instructing the kidnappers to send him the head of Zooey Deschanel.
• In 'Hunt', a fifth-season episode of the TV series Castle, when Richard Castle's daughter Alexis is kidnapped and taken to Paris, Castle follows and Det. Kevin Ryan asks, 'Who does he think he is, Liam Neeson?'
• A Saturday Night Live opening sketch on March 8, 2014 (season 39, episode 15) featured Liam Neeson reprising his character from the film in response to Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine and in defense of President Obama.^[33]
• In the animated Cartoon Network series, The Amazing World of Gumball episode 'The Kids', Gumball calls Mr. Fitzgerald and asks if he can talk to Penny, Mr. Fitzgerald then assumes Gumball is being disrespectful due to his changing voice, and threatens Gumball by repeating Bryan Mills' phone speech in a scary voice. Later in the episode, Mr. Fitzgerald drives up to Gumball from his car and says the Bryan Mills line to him once more, but he is quickly cut off by Gumball when he rolls up his car window, locks the door, and slams it shut in his face.
• In Lego Dimensions, when Bad Cop interacts with Unikitty, Unikitty says she has a particular set of skills. Taken featured Bad Cop's voice actor Liam Neeson in the lead role.
• One of the most popular^[34] and best-received^[35]commercials of Super Bowl XLIX in February 2015, an ad by Finnish game developer Supercell for its popular game Clash of Clans, featured Neeson parodying his character from Taken.^[36]
• In 'Red Means Stop', the finale episode of the sixth season of The Venture Bros., The Monarch and Henchman 21 trick Red Death's family into going to his mother-in-law's and call him claiming to have kidnapped them. Before he could finish his speech, Red Death quotes Neeson's 'I will find you' speech. The Monarch apologises and slowly hangs up then start to cower for a few seconds.

Sequels[edit]

In November 2010, Fox announced that EuropaCorp would produce a sequel directed by Olivier Megaton. Taken 2 was subsequently released in France on 3 October 2012, with Neeson, Janssen, Grace, Gries, Rabourdin and Orser reprising their roles from the first film.^[37][38][39] A third Taken film was released 16 December 2014.^[40]

Television series[edit]

In September 2015, NBC ordered a TV series depicting a younger Bryan Mills with Clive Standen portraying Mills, Gaius Charles, Monique Gabriela Curnen, James Landry Hebert, Michael Irby, Jose Pablo Cantillo, Jennifer Marsala and Simu Liu are cast as John, Vlasik, Casey, Scott, Dave, Riley and Faaron, members of OPCON. Brooklyn Sudano is cast as Asha, an attractive, well-educated young student from an upper-middle-class family who is furthering her education when she first meets Bryan and Jennifer Beals is cast as Christina Hart, the Special Deputy Director of National Intelligence who has taken Mills under her wing. Alexander Cary is a writer, executive producer and showrunner for the series and Alex Graves directed the pilot.^[41][42] The show lasted two seasons, beginning in February 2017 and ending in June next year.

References[edit]

1. ^'Home›Releases›TAKEN'. Bbfc.com. Retrieved 23 September 2017.
2. ^'Taken'. Variety. 4 April 2010. Archived from the original on 24 June 2012. Retrieved 14 April 2012.
3. ^Buchanan, Jason. 'Taken'. Allrovi. Archived from the original on 31 December 2011. Retrieved 14 April 2012.
4. ^ ^abc'Taken (2009)'. Box Office Mojo. IMDB. Retrieved 6 October 2014.
5. ^Franich, Darren (30 January 2012). 'Is Liam Neeson really an action star?'. Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 6 July 2012.
6. ^Hynes, Eric (26 January 2012). 'Nearing 60, Liam Neeson, Action Star, Has Finally Arrived'. Phoenix New Times. Retrieved 6 July 2012.
7. ^Tobias, Scott (30 January 2012). 'Weekend Box Office: Liam Neeson marks his territory'. The A.V. Club. Retrieved 6 July 2012.
8. ^Jaafar, Ali; Keslassy, Elsa (21 November 2008). 'New French wave prefers genre films'. Variety. Retrieved 1 February 2009.
9. ^Douglas, Edward. 'Exclusive: Pierre Morel Talks Taken'. Comingsoon.net. Retrieved 10 January 2015.
10. ^ Instead, the film went on to define Neeson’s career and establish him as a big time actorHainey, Michael. 'The GQ Cover Story: Liam Neeson'. GQ. p. 1. Retrieved 12 January 2015.
11. ^'Taken Soundtrack'. last.fm. Retrieved 7 February 2015.
12. ^'Taken (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)'. amazon.com. Retrieved 6 February 2015.
13. ^'Taken Soundtrack'. cduniverse.com. Retrieved 7 February 2015.
14. ^'Taken trailer'. traileraddict.com. Retrieved 7 February 2015.
15. ^ ^ab'Taken Release'. imdb.com. IMDB. Retrieved 7 February 2015.
16. ^McClintock, Pamela (31 January 2009). 'Box office crown 'Taken' by Fox'. Variety. Retrieved 1 February 2009.
17. ^Gray, Brandon (1 February 2009). ''Taken' Captures Super Bowl Weekend'. Retrieved 28 October 2012.
18. ^'Taken Series'. boxofficemojo.com. IMDB. Retrieved 7 February 2015.
19. ^'Taken International box office'. boxofficemojo.com. IMDB. Retrieved 7 February 2015.
20. ^'Taken (2009)'. Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango. Retrieved 25 September 2014.
21. ^'Taken'. Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 7 October 2012.
22. ^Corliss, Richard (29 January 2009). ''Taken: The French Disconnection'. Time. Retrieved 19 September 2013.
23. ^Kois, Dan (30 January 2009). 'Movie Review: The Thriller 'Taken,' With Liam Neeson'. The Washington Post.
24. ^Elley, Derek (13 March 2008). 'Taken'. Variety. Retrieved 31 January 2009.
25. ^Turan, Kenneth (30 January 2009). 'Taken'. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 31 January 2009.
26. ^'Cinemascore'. cinemascore.com/. Retrieved 7 February 2015.
27. ^'Reputed counter-terrorism expert pleads guilty'. Military Times. 11 April 2011.
28. ^''Taken by Albania', l'invito a Liam Neeson diventa virale sul web'. Albania News (Italian Edition).
29. ^'Be Taken By Albania'. Be Taken By Albania.
30. ^'Taken DVD release'. dvdsreleasedates.com. Retrieved 7 February 2015.
31. ^'Taken'. the-numbers.com. Retrieved 7 February 2015.
32. ^McFarland, Kevin (7 May 2012). 'Leggo My Meg-O'. The A.V. Club. Retrieved 7 May 2012.
33. ^Obama Ukraine Address Cold Open - Saturday Night Live. YouTube. 9 March 2014.
34. ^Gruff, Jeff (6 February 2015). 'Liam Neeson's Clash of Clan's spot is the most viewed Super Bowl ad on YouTube'. VentureBeat. Retrieved 28 February 2015.
35. ^Grubb, Jeff (13 February 2015). 'YouTube viewers voted Liam Neeson's Clash of Clans spot the No. 2 Super Bowl ad'. VentureBeat. Retrieved 28 February 2015.
36. ^Anxii, Orbit (1 February 2015). 'Liam Neeson Clash Of Clans Super Bowl Commercial - Angry Neeson 52'. Youtube.com. Retrieved 24 May 2018.
37. ^'Are We Going To Be Taken Again?'. The Film Stage. 10 June 2010. Archived from the original on 18 March 2012. Retrieved 10 June 2010.
38. ^'Liam Neeson Confirmed For Taken 2'Empire. 17 March 2011.
39. ^'Maggie Grace Confirmed for 'Taken 2' /Film. 6 April 2011.
40. ^Lang, Brent (11 January 2015). 'Liam Neeson and 'Taken 3': Anatomy of an AARP Action Hero'. Yahoo!. Retrieved 26 December 2016.
41. ^Andreeva, Nellie (17 September 2015). ''Taken' Prequel TV Series Ordered By At NBC With Luc Besson Producing'. Deadline Hollywood. Penske Business Media, LLC. Retrieved 30 September 2018.
42. ^Goldberg, Lesley (22 February 2016). 'NBC's 'Taken' Prequel Series Finds Lead in 'Vikings' Star'. The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 30 September 2018.

External links[edit]

96 Hours Taken 2 Deutsch Google Earth

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• Taken on IMDb
• Taken at the Internet Movie Firearms Database

96 Hours Taken 2 Deutsch Google Maps