QUICK TAKE: TAKEN (2009)

Chris and I rented TAKEN last night and I have to say it's a pretty perfunctory, pedestrian "gotta get the girl back" actioner. Liam (DARKMAN) Neeson is great as the world-weary former special-ops who retires to be close to his daughter, but the flick has zero twists or turns and basically takes us from point A to point B in a pretty straight line. They even intro a bunch of Neeson's former ops buds and blow the opportunity to bring them back into the flick once the daughter is taken.

And, speaking of the daughter, Maggie Grace's performance has to go down in the annals of film history as one of the most deluded takes on a 17-year-old in history. (Grace was born in 1983 making her almost 12 years older than the character she's playing.) Unless I missed something and she's supposed to be a highly function special needs kid, her spasmodic running about, arm flailing and inane giddiness is so far removed from any 14-year-old I've ever met, let alone 17-year-old, that we burst into laughter almost everytime she's on screen.

Frankly, it's pretty much the same flick as Seagal's BELLY OF THE BEAST and though more accomplished it's probably less fun.