Taken (2008) Movie Breakdown Essay
Film 1010
20 April 2011
Taken (2008)
Taken is a great thriller movie with many action scenes with great editing; it is educational, emotional and highly controversial. The movie is about Kim, a girl that is kidnapped by Albanian sex trade gang. When the movie starts the girl lives with her mother and step father in Los Angeles. Her real father, Brian is a retired CIA agent. The girl and her friend are planning to go on a vacation to spend the summer in France, which leads to a lot of drama later on in the movie. Since, Kim is 17 and needs parental permission to leave the country, her mom and her set up a lunch with Brian Mills her father, where they ask him for his approval. He as a war veteran, as well as smart and skilled CIA agent, which leads to his decision to disapprove because he knows that it is unwise for his underage daughter to go to a foreign country with her teenage friend. During this lunch conversation the camera man used a lot of reverse shots because the mother and daughter were sitting opposite to Brian. The quick shot of the mother and daughter looking at Brian when he said no, made him look as the bad guy as they had an unpleasant conversation, and Kim started crying because he would not let her go to France. Of course after Brian was made the bad guy by his ex-wife and his daughter convinced him that everything was safe and they were just going to visit museums and not go to the dangerous parts of France. Brian had nothing to say but yes because his daughter would not even talk to him. He did not know that his daughter and her 19 year old friend Amanda were
Shor 2 going to follow a U2 concert tour all over Europe. He was convinced that they were going to live at Amanda’s cousin’s house, which was true but did not mention that the cousins were out of town.
Before they Kim and Amanda left to France, it was Kim’s birthday and Brian gave her an expensive karaoke machine because Kim’s dream was to become a singer. Also
20 April 2011
Taken (2008)
Taken is a great thriller movie with many action scenes with great editing; it is educational, emotional and highly controversial. The movie is about Kim, a girl that is kidnapped by Albanian sex trade gang. When the movie starts the girl lives with her mother and step father in Los Angeles. Her real father, Brian is a retired CIA agent. The girl and her friend are planning to go on a vacation to spend the summer in France, which leads to a lot of drama later on in the movie. Since, Kim is 17 and needs parental permission to leave the country, her mom and her set up a lunch with Brian Mills her father, where they ask him for his approval. He as a war veteran, as well as smart and skilled CIA agent, which leads to his decision to disapprove because he knows that it is unwise for his underage daughter to go to a foreign country with her teenage friend. During this lunch conversation the camera man used a lot of reverse shots because the mother and daughter were sitting opposite to Brian. The quick shot of the mother and daughter looking at Brian when he said no, made him look as the bad guy as they had an unpleasant conversation, and Kim started crying because he would not let her go to France. Of course after Brian was made the bad guy by his ex-wife and his daughter convinced him that everything was safe and they were just going to visit museums and not go to the dangerous parts of France. Brian had nothing to say but yes because his daughter would not even talk to him. He did not know that his daughter and her 19 year old friend Amanda were
Shor 2 going to follow a U2 concert tour all over Europe. He was convinced that they were going to live at Amanda’s cousin’s house, which was true but did not mention that the cousins were out of town.
Before they Kim and Amanda left to France, it was Kim’s birthday and Brian gave her an expensive karaoke machine because Kim’s dream was to become a singer. Also
Bibliography: 1. Corrigan, Timothy. The Film Experience, 2nd Ed. Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2009. Print. *used only as a general guideline for terms such as reverse shot