Taken ***1/2

I wasn't all that excited about this one. I'm not a big fan of Liam Neeson generally, and it seemed like it might be lacking originality. But I was wrong!

'Taken' turned out to be a really good watch. Neeson plays an ex-military, over controlling Dad who doesn't want his 17 year old daughter to go to Europe for the summer. When he succumbs, he has lots of rules for her to follow. But quickly after landing in Paris, she and her friend are abducted by an Albanian prostitution ring. He knows that he only has a few days to find her before his chances of finding her alive greatly dwindle. He's a man on a mission. And the mission is great fun to watch!

All in all, 'Taken' is not the most original or suspenseful movie of this type, but it does have some snippets of originality thrown in to make it very enjoyable. Liam Neeson's character is really the only main character, and he does a great job holding the movie together. (I probably wouldn't have cast him... but I don't know who I would have??)

This one is probably OK for most mature teens, although the subject matter of enslaved prostitution might be further than you want any kid to learn about.

It was a good watch! (And all in about an hour and a half!)