Taken, Not Stirred

I saw Liam Neeson's Taken this afternoon.  I could have done with a little less car chase and a little more clever spy stuff, but there's plenty of the latter and I had a very good time.  There's nothing like giving a retired spy a good personal motive to come of out retirement and wreck mayhem on the bad guys, and kidnapping his daughter does the trick.  Neeson's about as good at this as an actor can be. 

There is a lot of interesting subtext to think about.  On the one hand, there is the clear idea that wealth is inseparable from corruption.  Neeson plays Bryan Mills, who has given up the life of adventure to be near his daughter Kim (Maggie Grace).  His wife's second husband is big rich, and when Kim is kidnapped, Mills knows about three or four dirty deals that might have something to do with it.  Oh, and there is the bad guy near the end who looks like Jabba the Hutt.  On the other hand, there is the idea that if someone threatens your kids they better know that there is nothing you won't do to them.

What is clever about the plot is that it ties these two ideas together pretty convincingly.  The most insidious source of corruption is the idea that you can deal under the table at work and then go home to your wife and kids without the one affecting the other.  Not with a guy like Bryan Mills running around you can't. 

This was a very satisfying movie.  I wouldn't call it relaxing.