Taken (franchise)
Taken is a series of English-language French action films beginning with Taken in 2008. The dialogue of all three films is primarily English, and all three feature Liam Neeson as Bryan Mills. The first film received mixed reviews from critics but a positive response from audiences with commercial success, the series grossed a combined $929,451,015 worldwide.
Taken | |
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![]() The DVD cover for the 3-film box set | |
Directed by |
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Produced by | Luc Besson |
Screenplay by |
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Starring | |
Music by | Nathaniel Méchaly |
Cinematography |
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Edited by |
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Production company | |
Distributed by | 20th Century Fox (English territories) EuropaCorp (France and Worldwide) NBC |
Release date | 2008–2014 |
Running time | 294 minutes |
Country | France |
Language | English |
Budget | $118,000,000 |
Box office | $929,451,015 |
A prequel television series based on a similar storyline and starring Clive Standen as Bryan Mills premiered in February 2017.
The series has also experienced diminishing critical reception with each successive film.
Films
Taken (2008)
A retired CIA operative named Bryan Mills crosses the globe to rescue his 17-year-old daughter after she is kidnapped by a group of Albanian smugglers while traveling in France.
Taken 2 (2012)
Mafia boss and terrorist Murad, the father of Marko, whom Bryan had killed by electrocution in the first film of the trilogy, plans to capture Bryan, who is vacationing with his family in Istanbul, and avenge his son's death.
Taken 3 (2014)
Bryan has been framed for the murder of his ex-wife, Lenore. He then sets out to clear his name by going after the real killers, while also eluding capture from U.S. authorities for which he formerly worked.
Television
Taken (2017–2018)
In September 2015, NBC ordered a Taken television series depicting a young Bryan Mills.[1] In February 2016, Vikings actor Clive Standen was announced to play the young Bryan Mills, with Alex Carey as the showrunner.[2]
Cast and crew
Cast
Characters | Films | Television series | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Taken | Taken 2 | Taken 3 | Taken | ||
Season 1 | Season 2 | ||||
Bryan Mills | Liam Neeson | Clive Standen | |||
Kimberly "Kim" Mills | Maggie Grace | ||||
Lenore "Lenny" Mills-St. John | Famke Janssen | ||||
Sam Scott Gilroy | Leland Orser | Michael Irby | |||
Mark Rem Casey | Jon Gries | James Landry Hebert | |||
Bernie Dave Harris | David Warshofsky | D. B. Sweeney | David Warshofsky | Jose Pablo Cantillo | |
Jean-Claude Pitrel | Olivier Rabourdin | ||||
Marko Hoxha | Arben Bajraktaraj | Photograph | |||
Stuart St. John | Xander Berkeley | Dougray Scott | |||
Christina Hart | Jennifer Beals | ||||
Cali Mills | Celeste Desjardins | Photograph | |||
Sheerah | Holly Valance | ||||
Amanda | Katie Cassidy | ||||
Patrice Saint-Clair | Gérard Watkins | ||||
Murad Hoxha | Rade Šerbedžija | ||||
Jamie Conrad | Luke Grimes | ||||
Inspector Durmaz | Kevork Malikyan | ||||
Inspector Franck Dotzler | Forest Whitaker | ||||
Oleg Malankov | Sam Spruell | ||||
Jimmy | Jonny Weston | ||||
Detective Smith | Dylan Bruno | ||||
Detective Garcia | Don Harvey | ||||
Detective Johnson | Al Sapienza | ||||
John | Gaius Charles | ||||
Asha Flynn | Brooklyn Sudano | ||||
Becca Vlasik | Monique Gabriela Curnen | ||||
Kilroy | Adam Goldberg | ||||
Santana | Jessica Camacho |
Crew
Crew | Film | ||
---|---|---|---|
Taken | Taken 2 | Taken 3 | |
Director | Pierre Morel | Olivier Megaton | |
Writer | Luc Besson Robert Mark Kamen | ||
Producer | Luc Besson | ||
Music | Nathaniel Méchaly | ||
Distributor | EuropaCorp (France) 20th Century Fox (US) |
Reception
Box office performance
Film | Release date | Box office gross | Box office ranking | Budget | Reference(s) | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Other territories |
United States | North America | Other territories |
Worldwide | All time North America |
All time worldwide | |||
Taken | 27 February 2008 | 30 January 2009 | $145,000,989 | $81,829,579 | $226,830,568 | #292 | #500 | $25,000,000 | [3] |
Taken 2 | 7 September 2012 | 5 October 2012 | $139,854,287 | $236,287,019 | $376,141,306 | #318 | #219 | $45,000,000 | [4] |
Taken 3 | 16 December 2014 | 9 January 2015 | $89,256,424 | $237,222,717 | $326,479,141 | #697 | #357 | $48,000,000 | [5][6] |
Total | $373,827,507 | $555,339,315 | $929,451,015 | $118,000,000 | [7] |
Critical and public response
Film | Rotten Tomatoes | Metacritic | CinemaScore |
---|---|---|---|
Taken | 58% (170 reviews)[8] | 50 (31 reviews)[9] | A−[10] |
Taken 2 | 22% (167 reviews)[11] | 45 (35 reviews)[12] | B+[10] |
Taken 3 | 12% (115 reviews)[13] | 26 (30 reviews)[14] | B+[10] |
In popular culture
- On January 15, 2015, to promote the American release of Taken 3, Liam Neeson starred in a short film on the show entitled Taken 4: A-Paco-Lypse on American talk show Jimmy Kimmel Live!; the short revolved around Bryan Mills helping his old friend Guillermo rescue his kidnapped dog, Paco from "Kimmel".[15]
- In 2015, Liam Neeson portrayed a parody of Brian Mills in Ted 2 (credited as "Customer"), in which he shops at the supermarket Ted works at for Trix cereal, asking that no-one be sent after him due to it supposedly being "exclusively for kids", only for him to return the cereal in the post-credits scene after having been followed and attacked.
- In 2017, Bryan Mills was featured in the fifth season of the web television series The Most Popular Girls in School, in which he is searching France for his daughter Kim, after she was kidnapped by a rival group of French models while representing the United States as a model herself. Liam Neeson reprises his role as Mills.
References
- Andreeva, Nellie (17 September 2015). "'Taken' Prequel TV Series Ordered by NBC with Luc Besson Producing". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved 18 September 2015.
- Ausiello, Michael (22 February 2016). "Clive Standen Joins NBC's Taken Series". TVLine. Retrieved 22 February 2016.
- "Taken (2009)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 31 March 2014.
- "Taken 2 (2012)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 31 March 2014.
- "Taken 3 (2015)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 26 January 2015.
- Lang, Brent (7 January 2015). "Box Office: Liam Neeson and 'Taken 3' to Unseat 'The Hobbit'". Variety. Retrieved 8 January 2015.
- "Taken Franchise". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 7 February 2015.
- "Taken (2009)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 31 March 2014.
- "Taken (2009): Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 31 March 2014.
- "CinemaScore". CinemaScore. Archived from the original on 6 February 2018. Retrieved 16 November 2018.
- "Taken 2 (2012)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 31 March 2014.
- "Taken 2 (2012): Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 31 March 2014.
- "Taken 3 (2015)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 9 January 2015.
- "Taken 3 (2015): Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 9 January 2015.
- Taken 4 with Liam Neeson, Guillermo & Jimmy Kimmel