Well, I just watched Taken, and Liam Neeson is the shit.The premise: Albanian sex traffickers have kidnapped Liam Neeson's 17 year-old daughter during a vacation in Paris. Big mistake, because Liam Neeson is a retired CIA operative, a determined father, and a ruthless sonofabitch.
Ruthlessly effective is the best term I can come up with to describe him. He totally pushes the limits of how ruthlessly effective a character can be while still being a protagonist. The guy is a murdering machine. I can actually envision an alternate movie that's sympathetic to the sex traffickers as their business is besieged by the unstoppable Liam Neeson.
Bodyguard blocking a door? Kill him. Enemy henchman on the other side of the door? Kill him. Find a guy that knows where your daughter is? Shoot him in the shoulders, torture him for the information you need, and then kill him. There's not much complexity to it, the guy just keeps getting shit done. It takes an extremely Republican mindset to see the bad guys as simply bad guys, and justify dozens (hundreds?) of deaths based on that alone. Of course, it's an utterly stupid political philosophy in real life, but it's great so see Liam Neeson kicking so much ass.
The following is a major spoiler but I can't help myself because it's just that badass. Liam Neeson finds the guy holding a knife to his daughter's neck... there's a tense dramatic pause, then the guy says "We can negotia--" right before Liam Neeson shoots him in the head.
Shiiit.
This movie is, like, REQUIRED for all parents with daughters and for daughters who have dreams of traveling alone. It scared me s***less in a you're-never-leaving-the-house-alone-until-your-40 way. That seems fair, right?
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