It happens sometimes. Another week rolls around, three or four more movies open, and I miss one. The assembly line keeps rolling out more movies the next week, and the week after that, and I keep missing that one movie from weeks before.
One such case is "Taken," and 10 weekends later, I can't ignore the fact that this Liam Neeson action-flick is the No. 1 film of 2009 at the worldwide box-office.
I finally saw it this week and realized why this unassuming, bone-crunching picture about a father seeking vengeance is such a big hit: At a time when escapist fare reigns supreme in a healthy moviegoing atmosphere -- business is up in Hollywood -- "Taken" is as satisfying as these kinds of movies get.
The good guy wins, and the bad guys' bodies are littered everywhere. The good vs. evil conclusion is predetermined, and audiences are loving the movie for that fact. The beauty of "Taken" is in its simplicity, or as some would say, its predictability.
The movie is not completely brainless, but the coincidences that stitch the story together are beyond ridiculous. It's just a pure action-drama that audiences absorb viscerally without having to think too much. Adrenaline: Why think when you can feel?
Audiences have always enjoyed watching a hero seek justice and take matters into his own hands. These heroes have often been lawmen of some sort, but the fact that our protagonist is a father (a retiree spy who was CIA-trained to kill, no less) has proven wildly popular.
I admit that watching as Neeson's character goes after the Eurotrash villains who abducted his teen daughter on a trip to Paris (where she's to be drugged and sold into sexual slavery, no less) was a satisfying popcorn experience.
There is also no denying the presence of Neeson, all 6-foot-4 of him, as an attribute in making him an action-hero at age 56. Check the market, and there's not much by way of action films showing. It's like audiences went from Clint Eastwood's old-guy vigilante justice in "Gran Torino" and headed next for "Taken."
But I think that what connects with audiences is Neeson's sensitivity, on display so many times before in films like "Schindler's List" and "Love Actually" and on display recently with his grieving for his late wife, Natasha Richardson, following her skiing tragedy.
Neeson's character is focused and no-nonsense. He is brutal when he has to be. He is an ultimate protector, which would fairly describe the father of a daughter.
