Taken

"They took his daughter. He'll take their lives."

2008 1h 34m EN

👍

7.4

SOLID

★7.4TMDB · 12,470

ActionThriller

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Bryan Mills, a former government operative, is trying to reconnect with his teenage daughter Kim. After reluctantly agreeing with his ex-wife to let Kim go to Paris on vacation with a friend, his worst nightmare comes true. While on the phone with his daughter shortly after she arrives in Paris, she and her friend are abducted by a gang of human traffickers. Working against the clock, Bryan relies on his extensive training and skills to track down the ruthless gang that abducted her and launch a one-man war to rescue his daughter.

“They took his daughter. He'll take their lives.”

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Cast

Liam Neeson
Bryan Mills
Maggie Grace
Kim Mills
Famke Janssen
Lenore St. John
Olivier Rabourdin
Jean-Claude Pitrel
Katie Cassidy
Amanda
Nicolas Giraud
Peter
Leland Orser
Sam Gilroy
Jon Gries
Mark Casey

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Pierre Morel
Writers: Luc Besson, Robert Mark Kamen, Michel Doré
Languages: English, French, Arabic, Albanian
Countries: France, United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Made its money back 9.1× over at the box office.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Released 18 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 4 languages: English, French, Arabic, Albanian.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

International production across 2 countries: France, United States of America.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

CINEMA

Did you know

Part of the "Taken Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

CAST

Did you know

440+ people credited in cast and crew — a small city's worth of labour.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Pierre Morel, shot by Michel Abramowicz. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Nathaniel Méchaly. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Pierre Morel directs. Michel Abramowicz behind the camera. Nathaniel Méchaly scores. Frédéric Thoraval cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in France, United States of America. Dialogue in English, French, Arabic, Albanian.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Made its money back 9.1× over at the box office.
2Released 18 years ago.
3Dialogue crosses 4 languages: English, French, Arabic, Albanian.
4International production across 2 countries: France, United States of America.
5Part of the "Taken Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.
6440+ people credited in cast and crew — a small city's worth of labour.
7Directed by Pierre Morel, shot by Michel Abramowicz. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
8Original score by Nathaniel Méchaly. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
9Editor Frédéric Thoraval shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
10Liam Neeson and Maggie Grace and Famke Janssen carry the top of the cast.
11Marketing tagline: "They took his daughter. He'll take their lives.".
12IMDB entry: tt0936501 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
1312,470 TMDB user ratings logged — serious cultural footprint.
14Classified under 14 themes, including "rescue", "paris, france", "kidnapping", "prostitution".
15Released under 13 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography: Michel Abramowicz
Original score: Nathaniel Méchaly
Editing: Frédéric Thoraval
Production design: Hugues Tissandier
Makeup / hair: Cindy Barr-Bright
VFX supervisor: Roxane Fechner
Sound: Vincent Cosson
Runtime: 94 min · 1h 34m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $25,000,000
Box office: $226,830,568
Return: 907% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): PG-13
IMDB: Taken (2008)

Part of

Taken Collection

A French action thriller film series based upon fictional former CIA operative Bryan Mills who is abroad in Europe.

Also by

Pierre Morel

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Trailers & featurettes

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Community reviews

What people are saying

GeekMasher2013-01-07
★ 9.5/10
One of my best films of all time. Apart from they made a second one, this a great movie! Liam Neeson trying to save this daughter, in France, from being sold to the highest bidder. An action packed film with good acting and great fight scenes.
Dark Jedi2013-03-09
★ 8/10
This is a very good action/thriller flick. It currently holds a 7.9 rating at IMDb which it certainly deserves. The few people giving this a 1 or 2 star rating must be disgruntled French people who do not like to see the French government officials portrayed as corrupt bastards (which they often are anyway). I generally like Liam Neeson so the fact that he is in the movie kind of got the movie off to a good start already. In this movie he plays a real badass, I-kick-the-shit-out-of-anyone-standing-in-my-way, former CIA agent hunting down the despicable low-life that kidnapped his daughter. I really, really liked the role he played in this movie. He makes characters like Bourne look like wussy. Even I was surprised when he actually shot the wife of the corrupt French government bastard to get him to talk. That was just awesome. The movie is pretty much action all the way. Well, it starts off laying the groundwork for the story and here Liam Neeson is indeed playing a fairly timid father that seems to be a bit out of his depth. Once he gets thrown into his right element he quickly casts of the sheep's fur and reveals the wolf (sabre-toothed) underneath. This is really a textbook action/thriller movie. A very enjoyable hour and a half indeed.
kineticandroid2014-06-22
Daddy knows best — especially when it comes to a mostly untrustworthy cast of Europeans — in this action film. Liam Neeson's performance elevated this from being forgettable. Otherwise, I kind of didn't care.