Mixed or average reviews - based on 31 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 15 out of 31
  2. Negative: 6 out of 31
  1. Reviewed by: Patrick Parker
    The beginning is a little slow, but after Neeson starts his hunt and does his best wrath-of-God impression, it doesn’t skip a beat.
  2. Reviewed by: Josh Rosenblatt
    Taken moves so fast and with such single-minded, vindictive energy, there's no time for moral ambivalence.
  3. Reviewed by: Christopher Borrelli
    There is no mythology, no irony, no real soul--just a Charles Bronson simplicity about the whole affair.
  4. 75
    Taken is nonsense, but it's terrifically entertaining nonsense.
  5. There's a xenophobic element to Taken's premise, to be sure - the idea that travel, even to Western Europe, isn't safe for Americans, and that foreigners (Albanians, Arabs) are by nature shifty and sinister.
  6. I won't tell you Taken is great, but it's great fun.
  7. 70
    The delirious and sometimes nasty little pleasures that Taken offers don't hinge as much on surprise as they do on the action (which is crisp and fast, with a minimum of computer enhancement) and on the story's unabashedly sentimental underpinnings.
  8. Taken--in the hands of director Pierre Morel (District B13), with Neeson in nearly every shot--works like gangbusters. The Frenchies have made the filet mignon of meathead vigilante movies.
  9. Reviewed by: Dan Kois
    A satisfying thriller as grimly professional as its efficient hero.
  10. If you find the film's xenophobic undercurrents distasteful, take solace in this: Taken was co-written and directed by the Frenchmen responsible for "District B13," so at least the xenophobia is imported.
  11. Reviewed by: Travis Nichols
    Accomplished if misguided thriller.
  12. 63
    Taken shows Mills as a one-man rescue squad, a master of every skill, a laser-eyed, sharpshooting, pursuit-driving, pocket-picking, impersonating, knife-fighting, torturing, karate-fighting killing machine who can cleverly turn over a petrol tank with one pass in his car and strategically ignite it with another.
  13. Reviewed by: Jeremy Wheeler
    Not one to overstay its welcome, this suspenseful tale is an economic exercise in delivering the goods for those who are interested in a two-fisted Liam Neeson vehicle to soak up, bask in, and then leave behind as soon as it's over.
  14. Reviewed by: Claudia Puig
    Taken does have a few things going for it. At the top of that short list is Liam Neeson in the starring role.
  15. 63
    If there are any "24" fans who have wondered what the TV series might be like if Liam Neeson replaced Kiefer Sutherland, Taken provides an opportunity to have that question answered.
  16. Reviewed by: Scott Mendelson
    In the post-Columbine age, far too many cops' partners have gone un-murdered. And too many unsuspecting daughters have freely traveled abroad, unmolested by foreign fiends. Leave it to the French to give Americans what we didn't realize we were missing.
  17. A brisk and violent action programmer that can't help being unintentionally silly at times.
  18. Reviewed by: Derek Elley
  19. Propulsively outandish thriller.
  20. Reviewed by: Bernard Besserglik
    Might do good business at home and abroad among audiences unconcerned with the finer points of characterization or psychological insight.
  21. Reviewed by: Tim Grierson
    Neeson's tormented weariness lends an air of dignity to the film's pulpy, grubby nastiness, but as striking as he is in action-hero mode, the truth is that Taken doesn't need dignity.
  22. 42
    Taken's subject matter is too serious for an escapist chop-socky movie, and the sleazy, exploitative tone undercuts the thrills.
  23. Neeson's better than this. You can't watch him here without thinking, Geez, every fight-choreography session could have funded "Love, Actually." This bash-the-door-down action scene likely took as long to film as "Kinsey." That gunfight required more stunts than all of "Schindler's List."
  24. Reviewed by: Richard Corliss
    The film promises so much more than it delivers that, by the end, I felt like registering a complaint with the Obama Administration's Consumer Protection squad.
  25. 40
    You do wonder how this commanding actor (Neeson)--who carries so much more conviction than the plot--felt about delivering the line "I'll tear down the Eiffel Tower if I have to."
  26. 38
    This film isn't an enjoyable martial-arts extravaganza like "District B-13" or the "Transporter" films.
  27. Taken starts in low gear and almost immediately stalls out.
  28. Cowriters Luc Besson and Robert Mark Kamen (Gladiator) saddle Neeson with indigestible dialogue and preposterous situations.
  29. Reviewed by: Staff (Not credited)
    Don't be taken in by Taken.
User Score

Generally favorable reviews- based on 416 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Negative: 16 out of 186
  1. TonyC
    Feb 17, 2010
    Taken is "slow" at the beginning FOR A REASON. It must make you CARE about the man's daughter and the relationship with the father. Otherwise you won't be invested in the outcome. How can these critics not realize this? Taken is NOT about a former CIA agent rescuing his daughter. That's the location. It's really about an estranged parent and the lost love of a child and not giving up no matter how hard it is to repair that. Saving your bond with your child is tough but worth it. C'mon movie critics should know that! Full Review »
  2. Feb 16, 2011
    Surprisingly well done, and very intense. Liam Neesen does and excellent job playing the role of the action hero. The James Bond franchise should look at this movie and take some pointers. Full Review »
  3. Michaeli
    Dec 3, 2009
    Thought it was excellent! Especially 'i will find you scene'. Maybe you got to be a parent to understand it!