Taken In

I figured out why I liked Taken so damn much. Luc Besson wrote the movie. He was the writer/director of possibly my favorite movie, The Professional aka Leon. His characters have a simplicity to them and a drive that I like. The action always moves forward with purpose. There are no hidden meanings really. No multiple layers. They are just films that are designed to entertain. Action held together by enough story to move things along. There are different genres of movies for a reason. Taken simply puts Liam Neeson in the driver's seat as a bad ass ex-operative for the government. Long story short, they fucked with the wrong dude. His daughter disappears, yada yada, bodies fly, glass breaks, cars explode. The pacing is perfect. It's shot well. It's clean, does it's job, and left a smile on my face. A simple scene where Neeson visits an old "friend", and sits down to dinner with his chum, a French detective and his wife. The wife remembers him from the old days, makes him chicken and the three sit down to what seems like a very cordial dinner. Within less than a minute, guns come out, and Neeson needs information. First thing he does to prove his point, he caps the detective's wife in the shoulder..."flesh wound" he says. That type of random outburst fits the character, fits the mood, makes you jump back, say "wow", it's just down right fun. The movie never lets up, has a satisfactory conclusion and is believable enough to be a complete joy.

Ken's Score: 80
Metacritic: 50

Metacritic and I simply don't agree with some of Besson's work. Metacritic gave The Professional a 64, while I easily give it 100. Both are large gaps. I don't know if the critics need layers and extensive character development to give a good review or what. Some movies are supposed to be fun. And both of these films are done extremely well. These movies are my view of high quality mindless eye candy entertainment. They don't outsmart themselves, and that's what a lot of reviewers do. They make fun of Neeson for being bland, or his dialogue cheesy. Sorry but everything he does fits his character. Nothing sticks out as improper, and every emotion he expresses his understandable. He did what was expected and drove a powerful action film home. I'm happy I took the time to watch it despite the mixed reviews. If you like fun movies and like to get an "oh shit, can't believe that just happened" type moment every once in awhile. Please check it out.

Movie Review Format Explained

Ok. So it seems like every time I talk to someone about a movie I just watched, I have to give the Metacritic score. And if someone doesn't know what Metacritic is, well damn it, I'll explain it. It is a website that compiles reviews of a given film, CD, video game, or book. It's basically the consensus overall score from almost every major critic from every major publication. NY Times, Chicago Tribune, Roger Ebert...all the heavy hitters. I agree with the scores in general most of the time, within a 1/2 star normally (I mainly use it for movies). It's a score between 1 and 100. Anything 70 and up is quite good. 80 and up, exceptional. And when you get the rare 90 it's generally considered a classic. I like it because it's not just one random opinion. You can read the review of any specific person from the main page if you'd like. Most major movies compile between 30-40 reviews. So anyway. After I review a movie...I'll give my score, and I'll compare it to Metacritic. I like comparing my feelings against the masses. So that's that.