Taken (film)

For other uses, see Taken.

Taken
French theatrical release poster
Directed byPierre Morel
Written by
Produced byLuc Besson
Starring
CinematographyMichel Abramowicz
Edited byFrédéric Thoraval
Music byNathaniel Méchaly
Production
companies
Distributed byEuropaCorp Distribution (France)
20th Century Fox (International)
Release dates
  • 27 February 2008 (2008-02-27) (France)
  • 30 January 2009 (2009-01-30) (United States)
Running time
90 minutes[1]
CountryFrance[2][3]
Languages
  • English
  • French
  • Albanian
  • Arabic
  • Serbian
Budget$25 million[4]
Box office$226.8 million[4]

Taken is a 2008 French action-thriller film directed by Pierre Morel and written by Luc Besson and Robert Mark Kamen. It stars Liam Neeson, Maggie Grace, Leland Orser, Jon Gries, David Warshofsky, Katie Cassidy, Holly Valance and Famke Janssen. In the film, Bryan Mills, an ex-CIA officer, sets to track down his teenage daughter Kim and her best friend Amanda after they are kidnapped by Albanian human trafficking terrorists while travelling in France during a vacation.

Taken was released in France on 27 February 2008 by EuropaCorp and was internationally released by 20th Century Fox. The film received mixed reviews from critics, but was a huge financial success, grossing $226 million, and numerous media outlets cited the film as a turning point in Neeson's career that redefined and transformed him to an action star.[5][6][7] It also launched as a franchise and was followed by two sequels Taken 2, Taken 3 and a television series that premiered in 2017 on NBC with Clive Standen portraying a younger yet alternate version of Bryan Mills.

  1. ^ "Home›Releases›TAKEN". Bbfc.com. Retrieved 23 September 2017.
  2. ^ "Taken". Variety. 4 April 2010. Archived from the original on 24 June 2012. Retrieved 14 April 2012.
  3. ^ Buchanan, Jason. "Taken". Allrovi. Archived from the original on 31 December 2011. Retrieved 14 April 2012.
  4. ^ a b "Taken (2009)". Box Office Mojo. IMDB. Retrieved 6 October 2014.
  5. ^ Franich, Darren (30 January 2012). "Is Liam Neeson really an action star?". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on 16 March 2014. Retrieved 6 July 2012.
  6. ^ Hynes, Eric (26 January 2012). "Nearing 60, Liam Neeson, Action Star, Has Finally Arrived". Phoenix New Times. Archived from the original on 13 March 2014. Retrieved 6 July 2012.
  7. ^ Tobias, Scott (30 January 2012). "Weekend Box Office: Liam Neeson marks his territory". The A.V. Club. Retrieved 6 July 2012.