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This is a terrible thing for me to say about the man who was Qui-Gon Jinn and Darkman, but when I’m mentally adding up a roster of big name, kick-butt action stars, Liam Neeson’s name is not typically one that pops up at the top.  I tend to think of him more as a dramatic performer…probably the result of seeing movies like “Love, Actually” a few too many times. Way to pigeonhole an actor, eh? I’m now cheerfully readjusting that train of thought and advocating “Taken” as a fast and thrilling cure for any winter cabin fever.

In “Taken”, the multi-talented Neeson portrays Bryan Mills, a character that is a combination of James Bond, MacGyver, and Paul Kersey of “Death Wish”.  He is a retired “Preventer” for the CIA who gave up his career too late to save his family unit from crumbling. He now only takes occasional jobs from former associates while trying, mostly unsuccessfully, to rekindle a bond with his teenage daughter Kim (Maggie Grace, late of “Lost”). This is hindered by the hostility of his ex-wife Lenore (“X-Men” fan fave, Famke Jansenn), who has climbed up the social ladder and is not shy about stepping on Bryan’s fingers at every opportunity.

Lenore and Kim scam the reluctant Bryan into signing permission for the girl to go to Europe with another teenager.  After discovering he’s been duped, Bryan tries to convince his daughter to at least be cautious and keep in contact with him. Well, she did wait until stepping out of the Parisian airport before letting her friend Amanda (Katie Cassidy) talk her into sharing a cab and too much personal information with a strange man. By the time Kim gets around to returning her father’s frantic calls, other strange men are already invading the girls’ rooms and attacking Amanda. A few minutes later, Kim is also dragged away while Bryan listens, recording as much information as he can. Bryan soon learns that the girls have been taken by human traffickers and that he has only about a 96 hour window to either rescuing them or never seeing them again.

The action after Bryan begins the hunt for the girls and their kidnappers is almost non-stop. There are chases, fight sequences, and explosions galore. Bryan is very much a can-do guy, capable of anything from hotwiring cars to proficiency at torture to preparing an IV. The layers of the slave-trade prove to run deep, but when he promises the bad guys that he will find them and kill them, he is not about to go back on his word. 

Yes, there are some nitpicky moments…several, in fact, but most involve the seemingly super abilities of Neeson’s character. Take the movie for what it is and don’t try to over think it. You’ll enjoy it much more if you don’t try to play the “how did he do that” game. He’s the star and that means he can do anything he wants…get over it. There is not a ton of realism running rampant through this (other than the risks of talking to strangers) but the entertainment value makes up for it easily. In my opinion, “Taken” is a good way to start kicking off this year’s action films.