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EmmanuelPerson
Reviews
Taken (2008)
Bourne-again Liam!
This is trying to be a more emotionally-grounded version of the Bourne Identity movie franchise. Matt Damon's character is fighting for himself, whereas Liam's character is fighting for his daughter. I think this makes it all the more powerful on an emotional level. You feel for Liam.
The initial daughter-father plot line setup is a bit cheesy and painful: 1/Super-happy airhead I-love-you-daddy daughter: Check. 2/Annoying ex wife and uber-rich step-father: Check. 3/Post-divorce Father-Daughter relationship issues: Check.
But it's all excused because it serves the plot well as noted above. Still, they could've cut the airport and singer meetup closing scenes at the end. I was so pumped up I was expecting the daughter's car to be carjacked at the airport!
It's littered with other clichés (Albanians, Arabs, French lover etc...) and completely omits dealing with the other slave girls, but at least it exposes a rather nasty business to the public.
Luc Besson's style is omnipresent and he rightly didn't lay it too heavy on the aggravatingly uber-cool action scenes like in Revolver or Transporter. It's just right.
Memorable scenes: telling his daughter to describe her kidnappers -live-, threatening kidnapper Marco on the phone, shooting the french policeman's wife, construction site brothel, slave auction, getting Marco to read 'Good Luck'.
An adrenaline pumper of a movie I tell you!
The Reflecting Pool (2008)
9/11 Supercharger
This film is the perfect medium to get people thinking about 9/11, the event, the contradictions and its legacy. It manages to pack so many astounding facts about 9/11 and present them in a gripping manner.
I especially like the way viewers get to live through the hurdles faced by other concerned journalists and citizens investigating 9/11. For example, the hit-piece by the "Bare Facts" O'Reilly-esk news sequence with the sullying 'expert' is very fitting.
Producing a movie on such a controversial and under-reported topic must've been tough. But it was well worth it and should be an inspiration to all of us.