What Went Right: Taken
By Shalimar Sahota
June 14, 2012
BoxOfficeProphets.com
Bryan Mills (Liam Neeson) is a former CIA agent, having retired in the hope of spending more time with his 17-year-old daughter Kim (Maggie Grace), who lives with her mother Lenore (Famke Janssen) and her wealthy stepfather Stuart (Xander Berkeley). Bryan meets Kim for lunch one day, where she asks her father’s permission to travel to Paris with her best friend Amanda (Katie Cassidy). Being under 18, she needs his permission to go abroad. He reluctantly agrees. Bryan calls Kim as soon as she and Amanda arrive at their apartment in Paris, but within a matter of minutes the girls are kidnapped. Using what information he can from the phone call, Bryan sets off to Paris to find his daughter.
Since the turn of the millennium, there have been a few similar kidnapping scenarios such as Along Came a Spider, Man on Fire and Firewall. With a production budget of $25 million, Taken cost considerably less than the aforementioned films. From the outset it looked like it would be a typical action shoot-em-up, yet it became a surprise $100 million+ domestic success. Written by Luc Besson, it was directed by Pierre Morel, who helmed the fantastic District 13.
Taken originally opened in France in February 2008. The following months saw the film released across parts of Europe, earning close to $70 million by the end of the year. The film’s US distributor, 20th Century Fox, had planned to open Taken in the US around September 2008. Oddly, they postponed it till January 30, 2009, opening over the Super Bowl weekend. According to Morel, one of the reasons for the delay was to recut the film for a PG-13 rating. In turn this led to people downloading it illegally. In an interview with Coming Soon, Morel said, “It’s almost a year later and it’s been downloaded all over the world. I think it’s one of the most illegally downloaded movies [of 2008], but there’s no way you can control that so far.” It’s difficult to determine just how much this affected the film’s box office takings, but interestingly those that had downloaded the film were posting on forums singing its praises. The positive comments would likely encourage anyone who was interested to view the film upon its release, or it would spur them on to download it themselves.
Taken surprised everyone by reaching #1 with an opening weekend take of $24.7 million (there was an expected dip on the Sunday). Even more surprising was that the film showed decent shaved legs, earning an additional $20.5 million on its second weekend. The unusual release strategy appeared to be paying off. On its third weekend it had a spectacular hold, earning $18.9 million. Taken spent nine weeks in the top ten and earned a total of $145 million during its entire run at the US box office. Overseas it earned $81 million, making for a total worldwide gross of $226 million.
According to 20th Century Fox, exit polling during its opening weekend indicated that 52% of the audience were male, and 60% were aged over 25. Having Liam Neeson in the lead would have helped contribute to the older generation making their way to the multiplexes, as well as those looking for a film that had a back to basics approach. “Just like the old days,” says French officer Jean-Claude when he meets with Bryan in Paris. It’s a somewhat knowing line that says more about the film, for it has an old-fashioned 1980s vibe to it, striving for realism with its lack of effects. But audiences were lured by more than just a star in his ‘50s unloading bullets into foreigners (I feel it’s worth noting that Taken’s domestic gross is higher than $103 million earned by The Expendables, which was released in 2010). The story itself would be the other explanation.
Of the film’s premise, Morel said, “I know the only thing that everybody would prize is that if someone touches your kids, you will violently react immediately…I think everybody can share the feeling and the horror of having your kid being abducted.” This would explain why Taken appeared to be connecting to the over 25s, possibly (worried) parents that will now never send their children abroad. With a French writer and director, it’s interesting that the film does not paint Paris in the best light with its message about human trafficking, though I doubt it has affected the level of tourism there. Also, despite it being a long time coming to the US, I imagine that the older generation probably wouldn’t know where to look when it comes to downloading a good film illegally, which might go some way to explaining its box office success.
The thing that hooked most people in the first place was “that” trailer. In a smart move, most of the footage in the trailer focused on the film’s opening half hour. And then there’s that monologue with Neeson’s character talking to her kidnapper, telling him of his skills and to “let my daughter go now.” He tells the kidnapper that if he doesn’t, “I will look for you, I will find you, and I will kill you.”
He is greeted with the response, “Good luck,” as if challenging him. The ridiculous phone threat is said with such conviction that you truly believe Bryan Mills can pull it off. Given the lack of information he has, I myself was persuaded to see just how the hell he intends to find his kidnapper and kill him. 20th Century Fox even decided to quote part of that monologue on the US poster for the film!
The pace of the film means that everything is packed inside a tidy 90 minutes. Kim is kidnapped immediately and the film wastes no time in sending Bryan halfway across the world. Three minutes after his phone call with Kim, we see that he’s landed in Paris. The speed at which he’s able to accomplish what he does is unbelievable.
Neeson was trained in combat and weapons handling for the role. Having him performing in the fight scenes is a plus, some of which are okay, but some of them aren’t. The ones which aren’t have a multitude of edits, likely done to hide Neeson’s inexperience. A short confrontation where Bryan saves a singer from an attacker lasts about ten seconds, yet it’s such a blur that you’re not really sure how Bryan has managed to disarm and subdue the attacker. While not exactly the shaky-cam look popularised by the Bourne sequels, it nevertheless appears to be what the film is going for.
Innocent people get hurt here, and at one point, intentionally. The most notable is that Bryan shoots (but doesn’t kill) Jean-Claude’s wife Isabelle in an effort to force information out of him. It’s a moment that made me lose respect for Bryan, but some people really dug the impetuous hard man attitude, which to its credit was an unexpected trait for the hero here.
I viewed Taken on the big screen back in September 2008. Even though most of the reviews I had read at the time were bordering towards the negative, the trailer was enough to convince me. I found it an okay watch, but felt that there were just as many things wrong with the film. I was surprised to see it doing so well. Having dabbled in the odd bit of action, the film managed to turn Neeson into an action star. He followed Taken with roles in The A-Team, Unknown and The Grey, where he can be found beating people up and fighting wolves. Even more of a surprise was seeing Maggie Grace successfully pass for a 17-year-old (she was 24 when filming). I doubt anyone would have predicted a sequel, which shows just how big Taken has become. Though the first film brought the issue of human trafficking to wider attention, the premise for the sequel has Bryan and his wife kidnapped while on vacation. Their daughter Kim ends up having to help rescue them! Maybe the second one is more about training kids to kill?