TAKEN

Photos courtesy of 20th Century FoxLiam Neeson heads overseas on a quest to save his daughter in the action-thriller, TAKEN.

Neeson is Bryan Mills, a former United States spy, who’s daughter Kim has been kidnapped while vacationing in France. The abduction occurs while Bryan and Kim are on the phone, so Bryan is left with a few clues. After consulting with some former colleagues and local French authorities, Bryan has determined that he has roughly 96 hours to track down his daughter before she’s lost for good.

TAKEN is served up as a big-screen version of the television series 24, with Bryan Mills serving as a retired version of Jack Bauer. Although Bryan has a more vengeful streak in him, the similarities between he and Bauer are uncanny.

Although the film never incorporates the ticking clock, TAKEN does adopt a short time frame, allowing Bryan only 96 hours to save the life of his abducted daughter. Without 24 hours to tell its story, TAKEN wastes no time introducing the characters, establishing the situation and setting Bryan off on his perilous journey. The film runs only 90 minutes, but director Pierre Morel serves up an exhilarating and efficient slice of entertainment.

It’s not often that action roles lend themselves to great performances, but Neeson delivers just that. His tender and apprehensive intimate moments with his daughter help to establish Bryan as more than just a killing machine, and his intimidating and menacing presence make him a force to be reckoned with when dealing with his amoral French counterparts.

TAKEN is an action-thriller that avoids the pleasantries and gets right down to business, delivering a breathless, violent and captivating one-man crusade.

Grade: B

LAST CHANCE HARVEY

Photos courtesy of Overture FilmsDustin Hoffman and Emma Thompson learn that love can be found when you least expect it in LAST CHANCE HARVEY.

Hoffman’s Harvey Shine heads to London for his daughter’s wedding and he’s slightly perturbed about the traveling inconvenience. Harvey is further inconvenienced by the hotel accommodations, rehearsal dinner seating arrangements and most importantly, his role in the wedding itself.

Upset and distraught he heads to the airport for a flight back to the states, but before he leaves London he meets Thompson’s Kate Walker, a surveyor at the airport. This causes Harvey to reconsider leaving England.

LAST CHANCE HARVEY is a wonderful companion piece to Richard Linklater’s romances BEFORE SUNRISE and BEFORE SUNSET. Where Linklater explores a European one-day romance between twenty year-olds in BEFORE SUNRISE, and then as thirty year-olds in BEFORE SUNSET, writer-director Joel Hopkins reveals that this type of affair isn’t exclusive to generation “X”.

Although the intensity of the romantic sparks between Harvey and Kate are not as intense as Linklater’s Jessie and Celine they’re no less important. Harvey is still dealing with the aftereffects of his divorce and the downturn of his music-writing career, while Kate hasn’t tasted must success in her love or professional life.

Romances, especially subtle ones like Harvey and Kate’s, don’t work without terrific performances. Hoffman and Thompson deliver pitch-perfect work, never escalating their character’s predicaments into melodrama, but also not downplaying them. The result is not only authentic, but also more relatable and effective than most big-screen romances.

LAST CHANCE HARVEY is an effective romance that celebrates love at any stage of the game.

Grade: B

TRANSPORTER 3

Photos courtesy of LionsgateJason Statham puts on the driving gloves one more time, this time against his own will, in the action film TRANSPORTER 3.

After initially refusing an assignment to deliver a secretive package, Frank Martin is forced into action by Johnson, a ruthless businessman who uses a tracking device to make sure Frank delivers the goods. The device, an irremovable bracelet, will detonate if Frank moves too far from his vehicle. Going along for the ride is Valentina, a mysterious co-pilot who Frank is morally obliged to bring along.

Films like TRANSPORTER 3 are very reliant upon the action they deliver. This sounds like an obvious statement since the film is an action movie, but more so with the TRANSPORTER films, where the plot is an afterthought to the stunts.

TRANSPORTER 3 delivers several brilliant action sequences, by car, train and sea, but not quite enough to compensate for its length. To appease its male audience, and I suppose add something to the plot the third film throws in the exotic Natalya Rudakova. Rudakova’s exotic attractiveness adds a new layer to the series, but only lasts as long as her role remains speechless. Robert Knepper is fine as the sadistic Johnson, but offers nothing new to the villain role. Statham as always, brings a chiseled, macho and tough demeanor to Frank, a sort-of second-rate humorless Bruce Willis.

TRANSPORTER 3 will likely thrill those enamored with action movies, but those looking for a little more action or plot to condone a full-length feature film, you’re likely to be disappointed.

Grade: C+