But the worst thing is that it's not really an action movie. At heart it's basically a throwback to a type of revenge porn that I thought had died. In this case, the hero (no, the protagonist) is totally justified in perpetrating any outrage, because he's got to rescue his virginal daughter from white slavery. The movie makes sure you understand that she's a virgin. It makes the bad guys that much worse, and that much more deserving of the violence they receive. Look, I understand violence in self-defense, I really do. But what we have here is a character who is not above gratuitous torture and murder, even when it doesn't help him get his daughter back. In one particularly gruesome scene, he tortures a bad guy to death. In another, he shoots an innocent woman to force her husband to give up some information.
This kind of thing is not really about self-defense, or justice. It's not really even about revenge. It's about blood lust. Blood lust comes first for the people who like this sort of thing, but they can't admit it to themselves, so they cover their nakedness with the fig leaf of revenge.
There are lots of bad guys in Taken, and of course the worst ones of all are Arabs. Of course they are. It's like every single trope was calculated to pass muster with Sarah Palin.
Oh, I almost forgot, the one girl who actually likes sex? She gets killed, just like in some stupid horror movie from the 1970s.
Who are the poor unfortunate females who got enmeshed in this crapfest? Famke Janssen for one, who I must admit I used to have a huge crush on.
"Used to"? Sorry, Famke, it's not you, it's me.
