Hola all. Massawyrm here.

Holy shit on a shingle, January ended early this month. In what is traditionally the cinematic dumping ground of this half of the year, FOX has put out one hell of a badass revenge-action flick with the Liam Neeson led, Luc Besson Co-written TAKEN. It is a Spartan, no frills, no holds barred, ball buster of a film that makes no apologies and takes no prisoners. It simply beats ass.

If this were 1968, this movie would star Michael Caine and be just as bad ass. You feel me? If ever there was a modern film that evoked the same kind of nihilistic, cold blooded ethos of 60’s era crime films – especially the mod era British crime films – without deliberately trying hard to do so, this is it. Bryan Mills is a nice enough guy. You kind of like him. But there’s clearly something wrong with him. He seems to cling a little too much to the life he missed out on when he worked “for the government.” But when his daughter is kidnapped in a random act of violence, a switch flips – and the old Bryan, a Bryan we are about to be more acquainted with, comes out. And he is not a very nice man at all.

Quite the contrary. This film dispenses with a lot of the usual pleasantries, only teasing us with a bit of foreplay before jumping in and kidnapping Bryan’s daughter. But the moment that happens, the film begins playing a kind of hardball you aren’t used to. Here is a father on the phone with his daughter, coldly, almost brutishly telling her “you’re going to be taken.” Then he tells her what he needs her to do for him, because Daddy coming. And daddy is going to fuck up every mother fucker who so much as pauses his search for his little girl.

TAKEN is a film that will no doubt find itself endlessly compared to (the arguably far superior) MAN ON FIRE – and while this never quite hits the highs and lows of that film, nor shares its beautiful grit covered, grime encrusted look, it is easily playing in the same ballpark. Because what TAKEN has that most other revenge films don’t is that it isn’t afraid to give us an anti-hero who truly is ruthless, cunning and yet takes no delight in what he does. When he kills someone, he doesn’t relish it or spout off a badass one liner. He pulls the trigger or he breaks your neck or he slits your throat. And then he looks for someone else to kill. Like the film, he wastes not a second of time on bullshit.

And then at the end of the second act he does something completely and utterly unexpected that shows you just how serious he is about getting his daughter back. And it is one of those rare moments that gives you something you’ve never quite seen before. Not from a hero at least. And then the scene that follows cinches it up so nicely, giving this character a great level of depth that really nails what they’re going for. Bryan Mills isn’t an action hero. He isn’t the guy the government calls when no one else can pull it off. He’s a dad. A dad who has been trained to kill, torture and maim for god and country. And he becomes the bad day that a whole series of people have always feared would come.

While this is a revenge film, what’s so special about it is how little they focus on letting us revel in the vengeance. It really is a ticking clock movie in which the character is more like a very bad piece of weather that all of these criminals just seem to get in the way of. He blows through leaving a trail of carnage that claims collateral damage of a number of nearby criminal elements. And he never thinks twice about it. There are no negotiations, no pleas for sanity, and very little chance to beg for mercy. And it leads to the occasional moment in which we the audience begin to question what he’s doing, only to realize mere seconds later that the people dying really kind of have it coming – no matter how much or little involvement they actually have with what happened.

And when all is said and done, you have an experience unlike many, if any, other revenge films. While there’s a lot of things here you’ve seen before, it is assembled in a way that takes you on a new trip through familiar territory. If the film has one flaw, it is that its opening feels a bit forced. There’s about ten or so minutes of setup that feel like a VERY abbreviated version of the first act of MAN ON FIRE. They use a lot of short hand to convey a lot of the same notions without earning the emotions that its predecessor does by taking its time. At first glance one could easily think that this film was going downhill quickly. But it really feels like it HATES to be going through it, like it WISHES it could open with the kidnapping scene but knows that it can’t. Because once guys show up to take his daughter, the movie shifts into gear and kicks your ass for a solid 75 minutes.

Neeson is awesome, once again bringing his badass, tough guy persona to the screen. So many forget what a rough and tumble hero this guy can be. Someone the other day said “Man, he hasn’t been cool since DARKMAN.” What? Didn’t you see him fuck up the Batman? Or in GANGS OF NEW YORK? Or in KINGDOM OF HEAVEN? NEXT of KIN? He stood there with Swayze, baby! Fucking KRULL? He was an axe wielding barbarian for fucks sake. And as much as we may hate the prequels, one of the best moves Lucas made was making him a Jedi. The guy has bad mother fucker written all over him. But sure, play a loving widow step dad in one romantic comedy…and all of a sudden people forget 19 years of your career.

Breathless once it gets going and fun until the end, this is exactly the type of film I’m glad I saw in a theater. Thankful. Thankful would be a better word. It’s been a rough month. Having seen all the Oscar hopefuls in December, this month really has been filled with the bottom of the barrel for me. This was a breath of fresh air that reminded me why I love going to midnight movies on the night before opening day. Check this out at your earliest chance.

Until next time friends, smoke ‘em if ya got ‘em.

Massawyrm

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