Taken
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation | Release Date: January 30, 2009 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
51
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 32 Critic Reviews
Positive:
15
Mixed:
11
Negative:
6
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
88
PremierePatrick Parker
The beginning is a little slow, but after Neeson starts his hunt and does his best wrath-of-God impression, it doesn’t skip a beat. Read full review
78
Austin ChronicleJosh Rosenblatt
Taken moves so fast and with such single-minded, vindictive energy, there's no time for moral ambivalence. Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneChristopher Borrelli
There is no mythology, no irony, no real soul--just a Charles Bronson simplicity about the whole affair. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerSteven Rea
There's a xenophobic element to Taken's premise, to be sure - the idea that travel, even to Western Europe, isn't safe for Americans, and that foreigners (Albanians, Arabs) are by nature shifty and sinister. Read full review
75
Miami HeraldRene Rodriguez
Taken is nonsense, but it's terrifically entertaining nonsense. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
I won't tell you Taken is great, but it's great fun. Read full review
70
Washington PostDan Kois
A satisfying thriller as grimly professional as its efficient hero. Read full review
70
SalonStephanie Zacharek
The delirious and sometimes nasty little pleasures that Taken offers don't hinge as much on surprise as they do on the action (which is crisp and fast, with a minimum of computer enhancement) and on the story's unabashedly sentimental underpinnings. Read full review
70
New York Magazine (Vulture)David Edelstein
Taken--in the hands of director Pierre Morel (District B13), with Neeson in nearly every shot--works like gangbusters. The Frenchies have made the filet mignon of meathead vigilante movies. Read full review
67
Seattle Post-IntelligencerTravis Nichols
Accomplished if misguided thriller. Read full review
67
Portland OregonianM. E. Russell
If you find the film's xenophobic undercurrents distasteful, take solace in this: Taken was co-written and directed by the Frenchmen responsible for "District B13," so at least the xenophobia is imported. Read full review
63
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
If there are any "24" fans who have wondered what the TV series might be like if Liam Neeson replaced Kiefer Sutherland, Taken provides an opportunity to have that question answered. Read full review
63
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
Taken shows Mills as a one-man rescue squad, a master of every skill, a laser-eyed, sharpshooting, pursuit-driving, pocket-picking, impersonating, knife-fighting, torturing, karate-fighting killing machine who can cleverly turn over a petrol tank with one pass in his car and strategically ignite it with another. Read full review
63
USA TodayClaudia Puig
Taken does have a few things going for it. At the top of that short list is Liam Neeson in the starring role. Read full review
63
TV Guide MagazineJeremy Wheeler
Not one to overstay its welcome, this suspenseful tale is an economic exercise in delivering the goods for those who are interested in a two-fisted Liam Neeson vehicle to soak up, bask in, and then leave behind as soon as it's over. Read full review
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