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
The DVD cover for the 3-film box set
Directed by
Produced byLuc Besson
Screenplay by
Starring
Music byNathaniel Méchaly
Cinematography
Edited by
Production
company
Distributed by20th Century Fox (English territories)
EuropaCorp (France and Worldwide)
NBC
Release date
2008–2014
Running time
294 minutes
CountryFrance
LanguageEnglish
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)
Main article: Taken (film)

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)
Main article: Taken 2

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)
Main article: Taken 3

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)
Main article: Taken (2017 TV series)

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
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
Christina Hart Jennifer Beals
Cali Mills Celeste Desjardins Photograph
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]
  • 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
  1. Andreeva, Nellie (17 September 2015). "'Taken' Prequel TV Series Ordered by NBC with Luc Besson Producing". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved 18 September 2015.
  2. Ausiello, Michael (22 February 2016). "Clive Standen Joins NBC's Taken Series". TVLine. Retrieved 22 February 2016.
  3. "Taken (2009)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 31 March 2014.
  4. "Taken 2 (2012)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 31 March 2014.
  5. "Taken 3 (2015)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 26 January 2015.
  6. Lang, Brent (7 January 2015). "Box Office: Liam Neeson and 'Taken 3' to Unseat 'The Hobbit'". Variety. Retrieved 8 January 2015.
  7. "Taken Franchise". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 7 February 2015.
  8. "Taken (2009)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 31 March 2014.
  9. "Taken (2009): Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 31 March 2014.
  10. "CinemaScore". CinemaScore. Archived from the original on 6 February 2018. Retrieved 16 November 2018.
  11. "Taken 2 (2012)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 31 March 2014.
  12. "Taken 2 (2012): Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 31 March 2014.
  13. "Taken 3 (2015)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 9 January 2015.
  14. "Taken 3 (2015): Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 9 January 2015.
  15. Taken 4 with Liam Neeson, Guillermo & Jimmy Kimmel
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