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Today, 23 November 2009

Yesterday, 22 November 2009

› SACP attacks Malema

› Meteor 'flash' in Gauteng

› Malema attack 'racist'

› Govt settles with Pikoli

› Will cops play brokers?

When we first meet divorced former CIA bodyguard Bryan (Liam Neeson), with his wonderful, comfy lived-in face, he’s a soft-spoken teddy bear who’s retired from the game to spend a little more time with his estranged 17-year old daughter, Kim (Maggie Grace).

We're not really sure what exactly it is that Bryan has retired from, but soon find out that his former profession was that of a bodyguard — and rather a tough oke at that.

His re-married ex-wife Lenore (Famke Janssen) and Kim eventually persuade poor hapless dad into allowing Kim and her friend to travel to Europe for the summer hols. Naturally, Bryan’s worst fears are soon realized when the two teens are taken by an underworld gang which uses traveling girls in an extensive sex-slave trafficking trade.

Suddenly, Bryan is catapulted back into his former profession and has to track down his daughter before she disappears forever into this vile underworld.

It’s a story we have perhaps seen before, but don’t let that deter you. Written and produced by Luc Besson (the marvelous 'The Professional' and 'The Transporter'), 'Taken' is an unashamedly hard-core action movie that never relents — and features one of the most incredible car chases seen on-screen for many years.

Sure, the movie is violent, but not gratuitously so. Bryan is a man with a brutal past now faced with his absolute worst nightmare, so it's quite understandable he'll take down anyone who stands in his way. And the violence only seems more extreme because it's contrasted by the setting: Paris, the world’s most romantic and dreamy city.

Adrenaline-pumping stuff, certainly, rendered entirely believable by a frantic Neeson who seems so at home as a hard-core, take-no-prisoners government agent, it’s like he’s not even acting.

Believe me, if I was ever kidnapped for the sex slave trade, I’d like Liam to cover my ass!