MSNBC: ""You have to wade through unpleasant racial politics to enjoy the action" -----snip---- "The script also tosses in some “24”-lite torture sequences that will no doubt gladden the heart of any Bushies who miss the glory days of Gitmo. Add to that the film’s “save the white girl from the foreign infidels” plotline — a staple of American cinema going back to the bad old days of “Birth of a Nation” — and there’s a queasily reactionary feel to the movie that detracts from its more incitement-to-riot qualities."
Other snippets from other reviews:
"It also feels, already, a couple of weeks into the Obama administration, like a relic of a former political atmosphere"
an above average Neeson on a revengeful, uber-violent all round nasty, borderline racist run around"
"Neeson quickly becomes the typical magic fascist stopping at nothing to get back his daughter, so it's no surprise when the film culminates with a fat Middle Eastern man set to deflower Kim amid a pile of corpses and Bryan breaking in on the business."
It would be nice to think the politics embodied in "Taken" are a little behind the times, what with its abhorrence of negotiation and a pivotal torture scene..
"The villains are swarthy brutes, and the big boss is a wicked sheik, because a run-of-the-mill human trafficker wouldn't be evil enough."
"Taken is like a post-Sept. 11 throwback to the most primitive movie melodramas about innocents threatened"
I liked everything the Left hates about this film! It’s a simple message of the good guy killing the bad guys and actually winning. The Left hates that message.