Taken (also known as 96 Hours and The Hostage) is a 2008 French action-thriller film in English, written by Luc Besson and Robert Mark Kamen and directed by Pierre Morel. The film stars Liam Neeson, Maggie Grace, Famke Janssen, Katie Cassidy, Leland Orser and Holly Valance. Liam Neeson stars as Bryan Mills, a former CIA agent who embarks on a relentless mission to save his teenage daughter Kim (Grace) and her best friend Amanda (Cassidy). The two girls are kidnapped by an Albanian human trafficking ring while they are on vacation in France. The film was released in France on February 27, 2008, via EuropaCorp, then in the United States on January 30, 2009, via 20th Century Fox. Taken grossed over $226 million worldwide.
Despite mixed reviews, the film is widely considered a turning point in Liam Neeson’s career, cementing his status as an action star. As the first part of the Taken franchise, the film was followed by two sequels: Taken 2 in 2012 and Taken 3 in 2014. A television series, broadcast in 2017 on NBC, explored the origins of Bryan Mills, played by Clive Standen.
