I love films where the bad guys pick the wrong victim -- either he/she is a badass or is the loved one of some badass. Mel Gibson's Payback (from a Donald Westlake novel) is a prime example.

in Payback they knew they were dealing with a bad guy. In ransom, he turned the tables on them in a different way. then again he's kinda got a whole thing going for that theme doesn't he? The Patriot and Braveheart had similarities, guy wants to live a nice peaceful life, bad guys step in and do bad things, good guy gets mean in really creative ways.

I liked A History of Violence with Viggo Mortensen and Ed Harris

but I really want to see Taken. I don't have a list of skills acquired through years of work dealing with people lie these bad guys, but I do know there is nothing I wouldn't do to get my child back and make the people responsible pay. Its one of the reasons I love RJ so much- the loyalty above n beyond factor.

but I really want to see Taken. I don't have a list of skills acquired through years of work dealing with people lie these bad guys, but I do know there is nothing I wouldn't do to get my child back and make the people responsible pay. Its one of the reasons I love RJ so much- the loyalty above n beyond factor.

Agreed! Everyone can sympathise with the blind animal rage that people feel when someone messes with a member of their tribe, but so many films about revenge just reinforce the state's monopoly on violence by making the perpetrators of vigilante justice ultimately suffer for it - Death Wish, Death Sentence, The Brave One are all ultimately about how taking the law into your own hands is fun but wrong wrong wrong!

The fun of RJ - like in the subway scene in Hosts - is he reminds me that leaving some faceless shapeless bureacratic void to take care of things is maybe even worse...

Agreed! Everyone can sympathise with the blind animal rage that people feel when someone messes with a member of their tribe, but so many films about revenge just reinforce the state's monopoly on violence by making the perpetrators of vigilante justice ultimately suffer for it - Death Wish, Death Sentence, The Brave One are all ultimately about how taking the law into your own hands is fun but wrong wrong wrong!

The fun of RJ - like in the subway scene in Hosts - is he reminds me that leaving some faceless shapeless bureacratic void to take care of things is maybe even worse...

ONE of the many reasons I like TAKEN. No preaching and no real government interference other than a French policeman who is more concerned with the havoc Neeson will cause rather than the prospect of Neeson paying for his crimes.

I forgot the ultimate "You-picked-on-the-wrong-guy" film: Rambo.

I didn't see RAMBO--it might have upset my delicate nature--but FIRST BLOOD was =certainly= a "You-picked-on-the-wrong-guy" flick.

ONE of the many reasons I like TAKEN. No preaching and no real government interference other than a French policeman who is more concerned with the havoc Neeson will cause rather than the prospect of Neeson paying for his crimes.

That was one of my biggest problems with Taken - the suspicious total LACK of ANY police prescence. At the [SPOILER]airport at the beginnning of the hunt, he tries to kidnap that guy, proper duffs up his mate and then steals a taxi, right before the fella falls to his death.[/SPOILER] He then struts away with his coat flapping in the wind and a face like a gorilla who's just had his last banana swapped with a piece of cardboard shaped like a banana.

Doing that right outside an airport, even in the UK the fuzz would be on him in seconds shoving submachine guns into his face as they knelt on his throat. Not one cop?

The extraoridinary absense of the filth was matched only by the extraoridinary ineptitude of the baddies. [SPOILER]He didnt even show them a police ID, just a bit of card with a frenchman's name (despite his american accent) on it and they believed he was who he said he was.[/SPOILER]
You don't need all these CIA skills to take these baddies down - just a fly swat and a piece of paper with PTO written on both sides would suffice.

But seriously, it was good fun. Especially the shoot out in the constructiuon site with the whore in the back of the car.

i saw "Taken" over the weekend and I was blown away. There is not much to the story, in fact, the commerical is pretty much it.

A young woman gets kidnapped and her estranged father goes after her and the men who took her. He exacts vengence in one awesome scene after another.

The film takes the question "What would you do if your child was kidnapped" and answers it with a resounding "I would make them pay."

This film puts Liam Neeson in an entirely different role than we have seen him before. Concerned father, bad-ass action hero. The way he delivers his lines with the utmost calm is perhaps the mst disturbing aspect of his character. Shortly after the daughter is kidnapped (he hears it transpire over the phone), the kidnapper picks up the phone and Neeson hears him breathing. Calmly Neeson advises:

"If you want Ransom I have no money. But what I do have is a certain set of skills I have acquired over the years in my line of work. Skills that make it very dangerous for people like you. If you let my daughter go I will move on as if this never happened. If you harm her, I will hunt you...I will find you...and I will kill you."

There is a moment of silence when the voice on the other end replies. "Good luck."

In that moment neeson made his decision and it is the kidnappers who need luck.

Taken is a great action flick filled with great fighting, car chases and enough suspense to keep you riveted.

I couldn't agree more, Tony. We saw it last weekend. I love movies where the bad guys get F'd up the way they're supposed to, instead of referred for anger management classes. Neeson deals with the baddies the way I would want to. I give it two middle fingers up! LOL

(are we now afraid of the idea itself of torture lol)

Unfortunately, torture has gotten a bad name. Here's the important thing to remember: State sponsored torture against its own citizens=bad. Torture of terrorists or other baddies whom you had the moral authority to execute summarily ab initio=OK.

Any MF messes with my family or friends WILL be tortured and killed, and I will enjoy every minute of it.

I didn't see RAMBO--it might have upset my delicate nature--but FIRST BLOOD was =certainly= a "You-picked-on-the-wrong-guy" flick.

Oops -- that's what I meant.

Oops -- that's what I meant.

I thought so!

Torture of terrorists or other baddies whom you had the moral authority to execute summarily ab initio=OK.

How about the torture of terrorists or other baddies who turn out to be innocent? :confused: Actually, scratch that. There's no smoke without fire, eh?