"Taken" ** (out of four): A brutal cartoon of a film that seems as antiquated and out-of-touch as Liam Neeson's lead character.
![taken[1].jpg](http://www.yesbutnobutyes.com/taken%5B1%5D.jpg)
Liam Neeson gets a shot at action hero status in "Taken", a French action flick co-written by Luc Besson and directed by "District B13" helmer Pierre Morel. Neeson plays Bryan Mills, a retired CIA operative. Bryan has given up his long and storied career as a super-spy to be near his teenaged daughter, Kim (Maggie Grace). Having been absent most of her young life, Bryan is sadly out-of-touch with Kim, who now lives with her mother and millionaire stepfather in a Bel-Air mansion. In the opening scenes of "Taken", we become acquainted with his "attention-to-detail", his deadly skill (in thwarting the would-be assassin of a pop-star client) and the painful divide between Bryan and Kim.
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Did you see the PG-13 version released in the US, or the original R-rated version released in Europe? I saw the R version several months ago, and can only imagine that if they trimmed it down for a PG-13 rating then it has to suck.