The Demo Site

Luc Besson gets what action-craving movie lovers want. The French writer/director/producer figured out a few years ago that he could take edgy French directors, give them solid budgets (well, large by European standards, but small by American standards), shoot them in English with international stars (like Jason Statham, Jet Li, and Morgan Freeman), and sell them across the world for a huge profit. His latest endeavor, Taken -- all but completely ignored by distributor Fox -- seemed almost as if it were unceremoniously dumped in January once the rest of the world had seen it and pirated it online. But a funny thing happened. Audiences flocked to it week after week, making it one of the year's first hit films.

Taken is incredible, a tight, breathless thriller about a very dangerous man put in a very bad situation. When a retired Black Ops specialist (Liam Neeson) moves to Los Angeles to be close to his estranged daughter (Maggie Grace), he is forced to allow her to spend the summer in Europe instead, against his wishes, of course. But when she is kidnapped on that trip, all hell breaks loose. This man, adept at protection and acquisition, sets out to get his daughter back as quickly, brutally, and ruthlessly as possible. Set against a ticking clock, Neeson breaks bones, tortures suspects, and leaves a bloody trail of carnage as he makes his way to one hell of an explosive ending.

The film resonated with audiences who dug the revenge film/father-daughter vibe. And the Blu-ray seems to have been designed with that audience in mind. This is one of those great discs that includes both the theatrical cut and a slightly altered (more violent) extended cut. In addition there is a pretty standard making-of featurette, a look at the world premiere in France, two audio commentaries (one in French), and a cool side-by-side action feature that shows you action sequences from the movie while simultaneously showing digital footage of the on-set happenings making that scene.

The best feature, however, is an inventive digital counter on the top of the screen that keeps track of five very important film statistics. In one window we see a GPS location of where each scene is taking place, right down to the street level. This zooms in so we see the region, country, and city of each sequence. Then there are up-to-the second counters keeping track of the number of people Neeson has killed, the number of people he's injured, how much time he has left before he loses his daughter, and the distance he's traveled in the film in both miles and kilometers.

Meanwhile, various facts and statistics pop onto the screen in a very Pop-up Video sort of way, giving you real-world truths about Black Ops operators, their tactics and techniques. This feature also shows you where people are injured, what their prognosis of recovery is, and what their injuries would do to you in real life. And yes, when someone he injures succumbs to their injuries, the counter notes that too -- instantly. I LOVE this feature. It made watching the film a third time new and radically different.

This is an essential disc for action fans. Not only is it a fun, brisk, fat-free action treat, it is also one of the most clever discs I've yet run into. I have a buddy who owns the British version of the DVD and the Black Ops feature alone convinced him he needed to own this Blu-ray. I think that speaks volumes. This one will certainly take a cherished place on my shelf.