Taken
They took his daughter. He'll take their lives.
Taken (2008)
Production
Budget
$25 000 000
Revenue
$226 830 568
Director
Scenario
Composer
Producer
Actors
Liam Neeson
Bryan Mills
Maggie Grace
Kim Mills
Famke Janssen
Lenore St. John
Olivier Rabourdin
Jean-Claude Pitrel
Katie Cassidy
Amanda
Nicolas Giraud
Peter
Leland Orser
Sam Gilroy
Jon Gries
Mark Casey
Short description
Bryan Mills is a former American government operative who has left that life behind to be closer to his teenage daughter, Kim. She lives with her mother and wealthy stepfather, and Bryan finds it hard to get much time with her. When Kim wants to travel to Paris with a friend, he agrees only reluctantly. Soon after the girls arrive, he is on the phone with his daughter as she and her friend are taken by a gang that traffics in young women. Rather than hand the matter to the police, Bryan travels to France and uses the skills from his old work to find the people responsible and get Kim back before time runs out.
Pierre Morel directed the film, his second feature after District B13, working from a screenplay by Luc Besson and Robert Mark Kamen; Besson also produced. Liam Neeson plays Bryan, with Maggie Grace as Kim, Famke Janssen as her mother Lenore, and Katie Cassidy as her friend Amanda. The production, a British, American and French effort, cost about 25 million dollars and took roughly 227 million worldwide, a return far beyond its budget.
On IMDb the film holds 7.7/10 from around 670,000 votes, and on TMDB 7.4/10 from more than 12,000 votes. A critics' rating of 5.9/10 from 176 reviews puts professional assessments below the audience scores, which remain solid for a genre thriller.
What's left behind the scenes
- At the 37th minute of the film, when Brian is looking at photos in a machine, it can be noticed that the joint photo of Kim and Amanda is noticeably different from the scene at the 21st minute, during which Peter took this photo. In the photo, the girls are standing noticeably further from the billboard behind them, and Kim is holding Amanda by the elbow.
- At the 4th minute of the film, Brian’s gift is wrapped only with a purple ribbon. In the next frame, a white ribbon appears alongside the purple one.
- At the beginning of the film, in the airport, the protagonist unfolds a map. It is an old map of Europe (likely published in 1992) as Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia are visible on it. Czechoslovakia dissolved into two independent states – the Czech Republic and Slovakia – in 1993. Yugoslavia dissolved in 1992.
- At the 80th minute of the film, the Sheikh's yacht casts off from the shore, but in the next scene, just a few seconds later, the yacht is already in the middle of the river.
- Liam Neeson, who was 54 years old at the beginning of work on the film, was learning the basics of parkour in Paris during preparation for filming.
- On the 78th minute of the film, Brian kills Saint-Clair in the elevator. When guests see the body in the elevator in the next scene, its pose and position are noticeably different.
- Jeff Bridges was initially cast as Bryan Mills, but soon left the project, and the role went to Liam Neeson. Neeson saw an opportunity to play a role that was more physically demanding than he usually received. Bridges later watched the film and stated that Neeson played the role better than he would have.
- When Brian photographs Kim and her friend at the airport at the 21-minute mark, Kim smiles broadly. When he looks at the developed photograph at the 23-minute mark, the girls' poses are slightly different from the airport scene, and her friend's smile is more restrained.
- On the 85th minute of the film, the defeated Ali falls next to the right partition, and a broken bottle ends up near his right hand in the stomach area. When Brian picks up the gun after a cut, Ali is already lying closer to the left partition, and the bottle is near his left hand in the head area.
- On the 83rd minute of the film, when Brian jumps over the sofa to hide from bullets, a stunt double can be seen replacing Liam Neeson.
- On the 84th minute of the film, Ali misses and knocks a lamp off the wall. When Brian and Ali move further down the corridor during the ensuing fight in the next shot, the lamp is hanging on the wall again.
- Filming took place from February 21 to May 29, 2007.
- At the 39th minute of the film, when the truck hits Peter, the cars behind Brian change their position between frames: from a view along the road, the cars appear scattered, while from a side view of the overpass, they are neatly lined up on the closest lane.
- At the 35th minute of the film, Brian turns on the voice recorder and listens to Kim's phrase: "Dad, they've got her." Brian could not have recorded this phrase on the voice recorder, as at the 26th minute he connected the voice recorder to the phone only after this line.
- At the 50th minute of the film, the rear lights of the SUV Brian uses to escape are alternately intact and broken in different frames.
- In the scene where the main character (Liam Neeson) enters an Albanian brothel (57:45) and in all subsequent scenes within it, abundant grey hair is visible on the sides. In all other scenes, it is not present. In the final scene at the airport, the main character's hair appears freshly colored.
- Liam Neeson performed many of the stunts himself.
- On the 70th minute of the film, Jean-Claude types on a QWERTY keyboard, however, AZERTY keyboards are used in France.
- At the 35th minute of the film, Brian climbs the facade of a building to get into an apartment on the sixth floor, from where Kim and Amanda were kidnapped. However, at the 24th minute, the girls told Peter during a conversation that their apartment is located on the fifth floor.
- At the 3rd minute of the film, when Brian parks near the store, a large number of random passersby watching the filming process can be noticed in the left part of the frame in the background and on the opposite side of the street to the right.
- Liam Neeson expected the film to flop at the box office, but agreed to star in it for the opportunity to spend four months in Paris and learn karate, while simultaneously playing a role unusual for him. Contrary to his expectations, the film was commercially successful and, on top of everything, created an image of Neeson as an action hero.
- At the 3rd minute of the film, the position of the pillow behind Brian changes between shots. Also, empty Chinese takeout boxes are on the table in front of him, which disappear in one of the frames.
- In some countries (such as Germany and Turkey), the film received the title “96 Hours” after localization.
- At the 50th minute of the film, Brian rams a pickup truck off a cliff and drives over it. However, in the next frame, the pickup continues to roll down the slope, while Brian's SUV drives to the right, several meters away from the pickup.
- At the 47th minute of the film, while Brian is standing in line, a gray Mercedes-Benz is parked in front of the trailer. When Brian and the girl run out onto the street and get into the nearest car, the Mercedes is already in a completely different location.
- At the 5-minute mark of the film, a suspended microphone used by the sound operator can be seen reflected in Lenore's raised sunglasses.
- Mick Gould, a former member of the Special Air Service (SAS), prepared Liam Neeson for the role. He also trained the actor in weapons handling.
- At the 20-minute mark, Brian is looking at a map showing the countries Kim plans to visit. The map includes Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia, which had ceased to exist by the time the film's events take place.
- On the 65th minute of the film, Brian loosens his tie and throws it aside. When Brian turns off the electricity for the second time, the tie is back on him, and in the next frame it disappears again.
- On the 75th minute of the film, when Kim’s veil is removed, some of her hair lies on her face. In the next frame, the hair is on the sides, and in the subsequent frame, a strand of hair again covers her face.
- At the 24-minute mark, when Peter is talking to Kim and her friend, only a grey van is visible behind him. When he finishes the dialogue and walks away, a dark car appears next to the van after a cut.
- Throughout the film, Bryan kills 35 people in order to reach his daughter.
- At the 3rd minute of the film, when Brian enters the store, the time on the clock behind the seller changes significantly between frames.
- At the 79th minute of the film, the vessel Don Juan II is moored behind the Sheikh's yacht. During scene changes, the vessel disappears and reappears after a while.
- During the conversation in the cafe at the 14-minute mark, the position of the cherries in the cocktail, as well as its level, change with each cut.
- At the 65th minute of the film, Brian shows Marco a photograph, holding it in his left hand. In the next frame, the photo is already in his right hand.
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
