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    Bryan Mills 

Bryan Mills

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mills_bryan_8093.jpg
"I would sacrifice anything for her."
Click here for his appearance in the TV series

Played By: Liam Neeson (movies), Clive Standen (TV series) Other Languages

"I don't know who you are. I don't know what you want. If you are looking for ransom, I can tell you I don't have money. But what I do have are a very particular set of skills; skills I have acquired over a very long career. Skills that make me a nightmare for people like you. If you let my daughter go now, that'll be the end of it. I will not look for you, I will not pursue you. But if you don't, I will look for you, I will find you, and I will kill you."
Taken

The protagonist of the series, Bryan is an American ex-government agent working as a bodyguard in the present, who's brought back into fighting through the situations his family (and sometimes himself) are put through in the films.


  • Action Dad: Calling Bryan this might be the biggest understatement of all time.
  • America Saves the Day: An American Retired Badass puts a whole sex slavery ring operating in Paris on its knees in just three days, while several people from the French authorities are revealed to be complicit in the trafficking. Less of an example than most in that the grudge is personal, and bringing the ring down is more a side effect of Bryan's actual goal of rescuing his daughter.
  • Amicably Divorced: From Lenore, by the time of the second movie. In the first film, she treats him with disdain and only reconciles her differences with him after he rescues their daughter from sex traffickers.
  • Anti-Hero: He's an Unscrupulous Hero.
  • Badass Boast: And not just his iconic threat on phone from the first film!
    • When he talks to Jean-Claude:
      Jean-Claude: You can't just go around tearing up Paris-
      Bryan: I will tear down the Eiffel Tower if I have to!
    • From the sequel:
      "This is not a game. I will finish this thing. You'll just have to die."
  • Badass Longcoat: In some of the series' publicity shots and part of his outfit for much of the first film.
  • But for Me, It Was Tuesday: In Taken 2, Murad shows Bryan photographs of the men he killed in the previous film. The only one he can remember is Murad's son, the one he tortured to death by electrocuting him through nails in his legs.
    Murad: You recognize none of them. To you, they were nothing, but to other people, they are... sons and grandsons, fathers and husbands. And you killed them all, like they were so many nothings. (shows Bryan a photo of Marko) And this one? You recognize him? You do recognize him. Him, you didn't just kill; him, you strapped to a chair, you attached electric cables to the chair, you turned the current on, and you left it on... until his heart burst.
  • Combat Pragmatist: He's not a fancy fighter, mostly smashing the enemy into anything that is near them or shooting them in disabling spots so he's open to finish them off.
  • Crazy-Prepared: It comes as part of Bryan's job as a bodyguard to always have the necessary equipment needed to make sure that he can get out of any situation, but Taken 2 is where it's really shown. For the trip to Istanbul, he brings himself a suitcase full of recording equipment, cash and passports accessible at a moment's notice, plus a hidden cell phone and even a couple hand grenades just in case. These preparations prove handy when Kim tells him that strange men have entered the hotel she's in.
  • Crusading Widower: As of the third film, Lenore becomes literally The Lost Lenore.
  • Determinator: He doesn't allow things like absurd enemy numbers or being chased by the police or having an injured leg stop him.
  • First Father Wins: His emotional arc with Kim throughout the movie trilogy is steadily growing closer after a long time of being Married to the Job, to the point that when her stepfather Stuart turns out to be the mastermind of Lenore's murder in Taken 3, Kim pretty much admits Bryan is the only father she has or needs.
  • Good Is Not Soft: Bryan's a good guy, and the last guy you'd ever want to cross. To specify, he's cordial to just about everyone and doesn't appear to have a mean-spirited bone in his body. If you hurt his family, however, he will not hesitate to destroy you.
    Bryan: [to Jean-Claude] Tell me what I need, or the last thing you'll see before I make your children orphans is the bullet I put between [your wife's] eyes!
  • Guile Hero: Bryan is always at least one step ahead of his enemies.
  • I Will Find You:
    • Promises this to his family on every film.
    • More famously, he says this word-for-word to the kidnapper he talks on the phone (later revealed to be Marko), with the subsequent addition of killing all the kidnappers.
  • Heartbroken Badass: In the first movie, he tears up as he listens to Kim being abducted over the phone, unable to help her. In the third movie, there are several moments where his grief over Lenore's death catches up with him.
  • Implacable Man: A heroic example (more or less). Don't threaten his daughter and his family or nothing will stop him until you're dead! See Determinator.
  • Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique: He clearly went to the same school of torture as Special Agent Jack Bauer. He inflicts pain with ease and skill, talking about what he wants to know or intends to do at the time.
  • Karma Houdini: A heroic variant. While saving Kim from Paris, Lenore and himself from terrorists in Istanbul, and later avenging Lenoreā€™s murder, Bryan commits a multitude of crimes. These include: murder, torture, aggravated assault, resisting arrest, impersonating law enforcement, assaulting multiple police officers, escaping police custody, stealing a police car, causing death by reckless driving, and r a police evidence. He suffers no legal consequences for his actions, and in the third film Dotzler only tells him off for stealing police evidence, one of his most minor crimes.
  • Kick the Dog: Midway through the first film, he shoots Jean-Claude's wife in the arm and threatens to kill her unless Jean-Claude tells him where Kim is being held. Whether he genuinely meant this or not is open to interpretation.
  • Love-Obstructing Parents: In Taken 2, Kim mentions at a couple of points that Bryan did background checks of all the guys she dated, which is the first thing he does when he first learns about her then-boyfriend Jamie. Lenore even tells him to not run a background check on Jamie, because she knows that he ALWAYS does this. To top it off, the film's final joke is Kim asking Bryan not to shoot Jamie.
  • Manly Facial Hair: Courtesy of Clive Standen, he has this in the TV series.
  • Nice Guy: He's this to anyone who doesn't have something to do with his daughter's abduction.
  • Nothing Personal: In Taken 3, Malankov tells Bryan Lenoreā€™s murder was not because Bryan had done something to him in the past but merely a business deal.
  • Obliquely Obfuscated Occupation: It's never exactly stated what was Bryan's former occupation back when he was in the US government, even in the TV series.
    • His conversations with his buddies and former co-workers implies any combination of wet work, special forces, or intelligence work.
    • At one point, Kim admits she was afraid to ask what he did, and all he told her was "a preventer." A "preventer" of the type known in the movies to inhabit Langley, Virginia would seem to be a safe assumption.
    • Bryan's friends also reference a previous mission where "the chief" went missing. "Chief" is sometimes short for Chief Petty Officer, an NCO rank in the Navy, suggesting that Bryan was a former Navy SEAL. Chief also means, well, chief; lots of intelligence agencies have a type of position called station chief or section chief. Given the reference to aforementioned Langley, it's arguable Bryan was part of the CIA's Special Activities Division.
  • One-Man Army: As several dozens of Ruthless Foreign Gangsters find out the hard way.
  • Papa Wolf: When his family is in danger, particularly his daughter, Bryan will tear the world apart for their safety.
  • Parental Neglect: Lenore accuses him of this.
  • Properly Paranoid: He spends the first act of the first movie asking Kim to be careful and fearful about the fact she is going to wander all of Europe. He ends up being right.
  • Reassigned to Antarctica: It's mentioned in the first movie that in the past, Bryan left a mission to attend Kim's fifth birthday party (filmed in the video he watches at the beginning of the movie) and got reassigned to Alaska for his actions.
  • Retired Badass: Used to be CIA. Time may have slowed him down, but not enough to make a difference to his enemies.
  • Roaring Rampage of Rescue: To rescue his family on all three movies.
  • Tranquil Fury: He can be smooth and conversational with the people he's planning on killing and/or interrogating, but it's obvious that the facade is only skin-deep.
  • The Unfettered: To protect his family, he's perfectly capable of applying Cold-Blooded Torture even to old friends (who turned out to be scumbags, but still, their families have nothing to do with it).
  • Unscrupulous Hero: He goes through absolutely brutal lengths to get what he wants, from threatening to kill someone's innocent wife for information to flat-out Cold-Blooded Torture.
  • You Killed My Father: He says this almost word-for-word to Malankov in Taken 3: "You killed my ex-wife."

    Kim Mills 

Kimberly "Kim" Mills

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mills_kimberly_5853.jpg
"Mom said your job made you paranoid."

Played By: Maggie Grace

Bryan's daughter, who starts off as a 17-year-old teenager in the first film and gets a bit older over the course of the next two.


  • Accidental Misnaming: In the third film, Inspector Dotzler calls her "Ms. St. John", presuming she goes by her stepfather's surname. She promptly corrects him.
    Kim: Mills. My name is Mills.
  • Affectionate Nickname: Her parents and Bryan's friends call her "Kimmy."
  • Daddy's Girl: She is loyal to her parents and quite close to her dad.
  • Damsel in Distress: In all three films, at one point or another she's either kidnapped or threatened to be kidnapped, forcing Bryan to do what he does best to protect her.
  • Dead Guy Junior: At the end of Taken 3, she mentions that she intends to name the child she's pregnant with after her now-late mother if it's a girl.
  • Disposable Woman: While she doesn't die, the sole purpose of Kim's kidnapping in the first movie is the kick off the main plot and give Bryan an excuse to show what a badass he is.
  • First Father Wins: Big time. Initially, Kim is closer to her stepfather Stuart, who showers her with affection and treats Lenore well. However, after Stuart and Lenore separate, Kimā€™s relationship with him also deteriorates as he treats her mother badly. In Taken 3, itā€™s revealed Lenore has reluctantly gotten back together with Stuart and has been miserable the entire time. This causes further strain on Kim and Stuartā€™s relationship as she can see the effect the marriage is having on her motherā€™s emotional health. At the same time, she has grown closer to her biological father, Bryan, after he rescued her from a sex-trafficking ring in Paris, and become a permanent feature in her life after years of being Married to the Job. He has also repaired his fractured relationship with Lenore to the point the two of them are mutually dreaming of a Relationship Upgrade, which is what Kim has been dreaming of. What really seals the deal is Bryan does everything in his power to find Lenore's murderer. Stuart, on the other hand, orchestrated Lenoreā€™s murder (and framed Bryan for it) to claim her life insurance. After this, Kim, understandably, completely loathes her stepfather.
  • Girl of the Week: While it doesn't last long due to there being three movies, every film from Taken 2 onwards gives Kim a new boyfriend wirh little screentime.
  • Go-Go Enslavement: In the first movie, when dressed in skimpy lingerie and presented as a Sex Slave.
  • Shipper on Deck: For Bryan and Lenore. Considering theyā€™re her parents, this isnā€™t exactly a surprise.
  • "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Gives a chilling one to Stuart in Taken 3, showing just how much their relationship has deteriorated since the first film.
    Stuart (talking about Lenoreā€™s murder): Kim, honey, I know itā€™s hard on you but itā€™s hard on me, too.
    Kim: Iā€™m sorry. I didnā€™t realize it was a competition.
    Stuart: (Chuckles) Itā€™s not a competition. Please donā€™t hate me. Iā€™m not responsible for what happened.
    Kim: I donā€™t hate you, Stuart. But for the last two years, every time I looked into my momā€™s eyes the only thing I saw was hurt and sadness. And for thatā€¦ I do hold you responsible.
  • Undying Loyalty: To her parents. Including putting herself in danger to rescue them from terrorists in Istanbul and lying to the police to protect Bryan when he is suspected of killing Lenore.
  • Took a Level in Badass: In the second film, she does her best to run around town dodging the bad guys searching her and blow up a few locations with grenades so Bryan can figure out where he and Lenore are. On the third film, she's already so jaded that when kidnapped, she only glares at the man who did it and gives him "The Reason You Suck" Speech.

    Lenore Mills 

Lenore "Lennie" Mills

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/taken1_lenore.jpg

Played By: Famke Janssen

Bryan's ex-wife and Kim's mother, currently married to the millionaire Stuart.


  • Affectionate Nickname: Bryan tends to call her 'Lennie.' During the first Taken movie (at which point she doesn't really get along) with him, Lenore reminds him that she asked him not to call her that anymore. From the start of the second movie on, where their relationship is better, she doesn't try to correct Bryan as he almost exclusively refers to her as Lennie.
  • Amicably Divorced: In the second film, from Bryan. In the first, it's less amicable.
  • Awful Wedded Life: With Stuart from the second film forward. They split up at the start of Taken 2 & she and Bryan start growing towards a Relationship Upgrade. At some point between this and Taken 3, she gets back together with Stuart out of obligation as he says he wants to make their marriage work. However, she doesnā€™t feel anything towards him anymore (they apparently donā€™t even share a bedroom) and is clearly in love with Bryan. Then, before she can divorce Stuart so she and Bryan can get back together, Stuart has her killed for her insurance money.
  • Damsel in Distress: In the second film.
  • Defiant Captive: While she is clearly scared out of her mind and panics in the beginning, she ends up impressing Murad by standing up to his taunts. So much so that he decides to not only kill her but dismember her for good measure.
  • Jerkass: Big time in the first film. She's incredibly rude towards Bryan and goes out of her way of keeping him away from Kimmie.
  • The Lost Lenore: In Taken 3 she becomes a literal example of this Trope.
  • Mama Bear: While downplayed compared to Bryanā€™s One-Man Army Papa Wolf status, she is willing to be tortured and killed if it stops Murad and his men going after Kim.
  • Nothing Personal: Gets this twice over:
    • Taken 2: Murad tells her he doesnā€™t hold her accountable for his sonā€™s death, but will kill her to hurt Bryan, who he does hold responsible.
    • Taken 3: Malankov tells Bryan her murder was merely a business deal and not because Bryan had done something to him in the past.
  • Shut Up, Hannibal!: Murad tries to break her by saying Bryan cares more about Kim than her and sees her as nothing. Lenore doesnā€™t take the bait.
    Murad: Mrs Mills. What should I do with you, Mrs Mills? (Beat) I have nothing against you. You didnā€™t kill my son. But your husband did. Now, he betrayed you by choosing to save your daughter instead of you. (Cups her chin and forces her to look at him.) He left you here like a dog.
    Lenore (Pulls her head out his grip and holds his gaze): At least my daughter is still alive.
  • Sudden Sequel Death Syndrome: In Taken 3.
  • Took a Level in Kindness: She's much nicer in the sequel... not that it saves her, apparently.

Antagonists:

Taken

    Marko Hoxha 

Marko Hoxha

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/marko_the_kidnapper.png
"Good luck."

Played By: Arben Bajraktaraj

The leader of the group of Albanian kidnappers that abducted Kim in the first film, which is overall responsible for bringing prostitutes to the market surrounding the sex trafficking organization.


  • Ain't Too Proud to Beg: He pleads Bryan to spare him from a third and last electric shock that would be prolonged enough to kill him. It doesn't do him any good.
  • Big Bad Duumvirate: With Patrice Saint-Clair in the first film.
  • Break the Haughty: A really pitiful example at that. His defiant refusal to tell Bryan about Kim's whereabouts lasts less than a minute before he cracks.
  • Bullying a Dragon: He had no way of knowing exactly who Bryan is, but an organized crime boss should probably recognize that a monotone death threat instead of hysterical pleading (e.g. "I'll pay anything you want!") is going to be trouble, rather than shrug it off like it was nothing important.
  • Cruel and Unusual Death: He's electrocuted to death for a prolonged time. According to what Murad says to Bryan about him in the second movie, the electrocution got to the point that his heart eventually burst.
  • Disc-One Final Boss: He's killed right before the final act in the first movie. Not that anyone cares.
  • Non-Action Big Bad: He did at least try to get a pistol before Bryan quickly curb-stomped him, however.
  • Oh, Crap!: His reaction to a couple of Bryan's best lines:
  • Smug Snake: He's pretty self-assured when he think that he's safe and in control, but at least in the phone scene, he had no way in knowing that the guy on the other side was an ex-intelligence agent that could back up his threats.
  • Too Dumb to Live: Marko? When the guy who just jammed metal spikes into your legs and attached live electric leads to them asks you some simple questions, it might behoove you to answer them. Or at least, not to antagonize him.
  • Villains Want Mercy: While Bryan tortures the name of who bought Kim from Marko, he demands where he can find him. Marko repeatedly says he doesn't know, to which Bryan goes to turn on the power for a third and last time. Marko screams in terror that he really doesn't know, and practically begs Bryan to the point of tears not to kill him. It fell on deaf ears.
    Bryan: Where can I find him?
    Marko: (softly between breaths) I don't know, I don't know... (Bryan runs to the power switch) I don't know, I don't know! PLEASE! I DON'T KNOW! I DON'T KNOOOW! NOOO, PLEASE! Please! Please don't do it, please...
    Bryan: I believe you... but it's not gonna save you. (turns on the power and leaves Marko screaming in agony)

    Patrice Saint-Clair 

Patrice Saint-Clair

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/taken1_patrice_stclair.jpg

Played By: GĆ©rard Watkins

The sex traffickers' French head of retail, who organizes clandestine sales of sex slaves at an underground area of his chapel.


  • Ain't Too Proud to Beg: He begs for his life when Bryan trains his gun on him.
  • Big Bad Duumvirate: With Marko Hoxha in the first film.
  • Dirty Coward: He becomes a lot less smug and sure of himself when his guards are taken out.
  • Dull Surprise: Although he visibly looks horrified, he sounds rather relaxed and even kind of sleepy after Bryan wounds him and he attempts to plead for his life.
  • Even Evil Has Loved Ones: According to himself, he's a family man.
  • Faux Affably Evil: Patrice is very polite and even sympathetic, even when ordering a man's execution.
  • Moral Myopia: He tries to use the parent card in an attempt to make himself look sympathetic to Brian, but it flies out of the window when he has no qualms in selling off other people's children.
  • Non-Action Big Bad: He use underlings and bodyguards to do his dirty work. When Brian takes them out, he's completely defenseless.
  • Nothing Personal: He throws this out to Bryan, who isn't buying.
  • Punch-Clock Villain: Tries to play this card, but Bryan is unsympathetic.
  • Sharp-Dressed Man: He wears a black tuxedo, and his security guards dress in similar suits with neckties.
  • Too Dumb to Live: It wouldn't have saved him anyway, but him saying it wasn't personal to the father of one of the girls he sold off (whom he also held hostage) results in exactly what you think it would.
    Bryan: It was all personal to me! (BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM!)
  • Villains Want Mercy: After Bryan defeated all of his men by killing them or knocking them off, the unarmed Patrice practically pisses his pants the moment Bryan angrily stomps towards him with a loaded gun. He begs Bryan not to kill him by claiming that his job of prostitute seller is only business and Nothing Personal towards anyone; Bryan answers by saying It's Personal just before repeatedly plugging him with bullets.

    Ali 

Ali

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/1118full_taken_screenshot_6.jpg

Played By: Jalil Naciri

Sheik Raman's head bodyguard, who serves as Bryan's third and last major enemy in the first movie after Marko Hoxha and Patrice Saint-Clair.


  • Devious Daggers: After losing his gun, he pulls out a karambit and gives Bryan a great deal of trouble with it, until Bryan evens the odds with a broken bottle.
  • The Dragon: On top of being Sheik Raman's head bodyguard and representative at the sex slave auction, he gives Bryan a good fight, inflicting several wounds on the latter before he's able to go after the Sheik.
  • Evil Wears Black: He's dressed in an all-black formal suit.
  • No Full Name Given: Only his first name is stated.
  • Rasputinian Death: Stabbed several times with a broken bottle, then by his own knife, and kneed in the groin until he stays down.
  • Sharp-Dressed Man: He wears a luxurious-looking black suit.

    Jean-Claude Pitrel 

Jean-Claude Pitrel

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/taken1_pitrel.jpg

Played By: Olivier Rabourdin

A French ex-field agent and former colleague of Bryan who currently serves as a police officer in Paris. In the first film, as Bryan finds out, Jean-Claude was an accomplice to the Albanian kidnappers, whose relatives later interrogate him in the sequel with his fate left unknown afterwards.


  • Asshole Victim: In Taken 2, when he's interrogated and tortured by the Albanians seeking revenge on Bryan. It's quite hard to mourn for him, since he previously conspired with the Albanians' relatives in the first film.
  • Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Downplayed. While he initially seems to be a Reasonable Authority Figure towards Bryan until the latter discovers his ties to the sex trafficking ring, he's not seen partaking in other forms of police corruption, and it's implied that he's approachable as long as he's not in the pressuring and dangerous situations he's repeatedly put through.
  • Dirty Cop: He's an officer of the Paris Police Prefecture working with the Albanian mob. Downplayed in that other than that, he doesn't partake in much corruption.
  • Even Evil Has Loved Ones: He has a wife and children, and shows he loves his kids very much when he tells them a bedtime story. Both Bryan in the first film and the Albanians from the sequel are more than willing to exploit this in order to extract information from Jean-Claude.
    Bryan: [to Jean-Claude] Tell me what I need, or the last thing you'll see before I make your children orphans is the bullet I put between [your wife's] eyes!
  • Fallen Hero: Downplayed. He's a former field agent who went to become a Dirty Cop working for the Albanian kidnappers, but he doesn't appear to engage in any other acts of corruption.
  • French Jerk: He appears to be rather condescending, even to his beloved family. When Bryan asks him over why he's working with the Albanian kidnappers, Jean-Claude refuses to answer and attempts to force Bryan out of his house at gunpoint. As his wife questions what's going on, he tells her to shut up. To top it off, his eventual answer to Bryan is an annoyed-sounding "My salary is X, my expenses are Y. As long as my family is provided for, I do not care where the difference comes from."
  • Groin Attack: On the receiving end of one in the sequel. Suko stabs his genitals with scissors to torture him.
  • Uncertain Doom:
    • Jean-Claude vanishes from the series after the second film's scene where the Albanians torture him for information on Bryan's whereabouts. One can only assume that they killed him once they got what they wanted...
    • It's also unclear what happened to his wife and children.
  • We Used to Be Friends: He's a former colleague of Bryan, who's bemused upon discovering Jean-Claude is an accomplice to the kidnappers.

    Peter 

Peter

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/taken1_peter.jpg

Played By: Nicolas Giraud

A Honey Trap for the sex trafficking ring who catches Kim and Amanda for them. He unwittingly dies by getting run over as he tries to escape from Bryan.


  • The Charmer: Due to his role as a Honey Trap.
  • Dirty Coward: Peter is no fighter, and practically wets himself when Bryan confronts him.
  • Faux Affably Evil: Given his job as a Honey Trap, this is to be expected.
  • Honey Trap: He's a spotter for the sex traffickers.
  • Look Both Ways: How he dies.
  • No Full Name Given: Only his first name is stated. And considering his profession, it can't be certain that it's even his real name.
  • Punch-Clock Villain: A very subtle example. A flashback shows him apologising to a random girl Bryan saved before she's kidnapped by his employers. Earlier on when his associate silently orders him to go after another girl, his only reaction is to look slightly guilty with what he has to do. He still knowingly and freely engages in sex trafficking though, so no tears are shed when he's killed.

    Sheik Raman 

Sheik Raman

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/1118full_taken_screenshot.jpg

Played By: Nabil Massad

An Arab Oil Sheikh from the first movie who's a customer of the sex trafficking ring, unwillingly purchasing Kim. His boat is where the film's final sequence of fights takes place.


  • Ain't Too Proud to Beg: Seeing that all of his henchmen have been disposed of, he offers to make a deal with Bryan in exchange for Kim's life. Bryan doesn't have it, even shooting him mid-sentence.
  • Aristocrats Are Evil: A wealthy, yacht-owning sheik who doesn't have a problem buying kidnapped women as sex slaves.
  • Bald of Evil: He only has hair on the sides of his head.
  • Dirty Old Man: He didn't actually want to buy Kim (Bryan forced Ali to do that for the Sheik so he could get the opportunity to save her), but he's more than happy to keep her for himself after the fact.
  • Killed Mid-Sentence: "We can negoti-" *BAM*
  • No Full Name Given: Aside from his title of sheik, only his first name is stated.
  • Post-Final Boss: He's the last obstacle of the first film, found right after Bryan kills his right-hand man, and he goes down with a single shot.

Taken 2

    Murad Hoxha 

Murad Hoxha

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/murad_hoxha_2667381_normal.jpg
"If it gives us peace, call it anything you wish."

Played By: Rade Šerbedžija

"And I have come to take you to Tropojƫ to face you to the people whose lives you have ruined. To give them justice."

An Albanian mafia boss and the leader of the Albanians seeking revenge against Bryan's family in Taken 2. He's the father of Marko Hoxha from the first film.


  • Badass Longcoat: Whenever he goes outside while on the way to capture or check on someone, he's seen wearing a black trenchcoat.
  • Big Bad: Of Taken 2.
  • The Don: For the Albanian Mafia.
  • Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Not only Marko, but also his two other sons whom he swears will avenge him.
  • Evil Counterpart: To Bryan, since both of them are Papa Wolves, but Murad had a criminal son (on top of still being an active criminal himself in the present) whereas Bryan has an innocent daughter. At one point, Murad is even seen wearing Badass Longcoat similar to the one Bryan wore for most of the first movie.
  • Evil Old Folks: He's a longtime mobster with three grown sons.
  • Faux Affably Evil: He's a very polite man, even when he's trying to kill you. There's a trope-defining scene where Lenore is talking to him, and Murad mentions how he admires her, how he thinks she's a innocent woman who had nothing to do with his son's death, and then he says for such respect he'll send her back home... in pieces.
  • Genre Blindness: Despite having a pretty good idea of what Bryan is capable of, Murad still insists on prolonging his suffering and explaining what he intends to do to Bryan's family, then proceeds to not have a few dozen mooks with guns trained on him at all times. This turns out to be exactly as bad a plan as it sounds.
  • Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Bryan kills him by impaling his neck through a coat hook.
  • Ironic Echo: His funeral speech in the Villain Opening Scene parallels Bryan's quote-worthy threat from the first movie, especially the "I will find you" part.
    Murad: He slaughtered our men, our brothers, our sons. The dead cry out to us... for justice. On their souls, I swear to you. The man who took our loved ones from us, the man who has brought us such pain and sorrow. We will find him. We will bring him here. We will not rest until his blood flows into this very ground. We will have our revenge.
  • Mirror Character: He and Bryan are a pair of Papa Wolves who square off over their children, both of them willing to break laws and endanger others if it gets them what they want.
  • Moral Myopia: Invoked by him. Bryan killed his son, and that makes him the bad guy. The fact that Marko was practically a mass murderer to begin with, having condemned an unknown number of girls to a short life of sexual slavery, is irrelevant to the calculations. Murad even cheerfully tells Bryan that he intends to finish Marko's job of selling Kim as a sex slave.
  • Non-Action Big Bad: Much like his son, he's not much of a fighter, and is probably more of an arguer against Bryan.
  • Outliving One's Offspring: To Marko. Given that Marko died in the first film and Murad didn't appear until the second one, it pretty much goes without saying.
  • Papa Wolf: Sadly for Murad, Bryan was the superior wolf. Not caring about your son being a morally compromised sleazebag who abducted young girls to be sold to the sex market (on top of even seeking to finish his intentions just to spite your opponent) is proof that you're totally unworthy of this trope.
  • Revenge by Proxy: He wants to make Bryan suffer first by leaving his wife to bleed to death in front of him and vows to sell his daughter to the cheapest whorehouse possible.
  • Revenge Myopia: There's a good reason why he's the page quote for this trope. Murad doesn't care if Marko worked in a crime ring, and destroyed many young women's lives by forcing them into sex slavery (a fate Bryan's daughter escaped just in time). He just wants to ease his pain by killing the man responsible for Marko's death (and his loved ones), and to add salt to the wound, intended to do so by finishing his son's original intentions.
    Bryan: I killed your son because he kidnapped my daughter!
    Murad: [slaps Bryan] I DON'T CARE WHAT HE DID! I only know... I will never see his face again, I will never hear his voice. (kisses Marko's photo) And as you held him responsible for your daughter, I hold you responsible for him!
  • Secret Test of Character: Subjected to one. After promising to call off the feud, Bryan walks away, leaving his gun behind. Murad grabs the gun and tries to fire, only to find there are no bullets in it. Bryan drops the bullet and then shoves Murad's head into a towel hook, killing him.
  • Villain Opening Scene: Taken 2 opens with Murad attending the funeral of his son and his associates, and vowing revenge on Bryan with a motivating speech to the other attendants.
  • Villains Want Mercy: Subtly enough. His feared expression just before his death had "plead for mercy" written all over it. Bryan doesn't give the bastard time to beg for his life and kills him.

    Suko 

Suko

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sukotvtropes.jpg

Played By: Alain Figlarz

The only named and prominent Albanian aside from Murad in Taken 2.


  • All There in the Script: His name is only stated in the film's casting credits.
  • The Brute: He does much of the Albanians' physical work, including torturing both Jean-Claude and Bryan. He also proves to be nearly Bryan's match later in the climax.
  • Even Evil Has Loved Ones: He mentions to Jean-Claude that he had a brother and an unspecified number of friends, who were among Bryan's victims in the first movie.
  • Evil Wears Black: His most prominent outfit, which he wears for the majority of the film's runtime at Istanbul, is a mostly black tracksuit with little shades of blue and white thrown in.
  • No Full Name Given: Only his first name is stated.
  • Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Appears to be one to Ali from the first film. While their upbringing and positions within their respective affiliations are different (Ali is The Dragon to Sheik Raman while Suko is merely The Brute of the Albanians), they share the role of being Bryan's opponent in the climaxes of their respective movies with fighting skills on par to his, on top of having similar clothing palettes with black as the main color.

Taken 3

    Oleg Malankov 

Oleg Malankov

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/malankovtvtropes.jpg

Played By: Sam Spruell

A Russian mafia boss who serves as one of the major antagonists in Taken 3.


  • The Mafiya: He's the leader of a Russian mafia organization.
  • Please Kill Me if It Satisfies You: When he loses the final fight to Bryan, Malankov allows the latter to kill him off, even saying that he deserves to die.
    "First, he gets me to kill your wife, then you. And when that doesn't work, he pushes you to kill me, no? Either way, he wins. Your wife was just part of a business deal, like many before her. It is my turn to lose the game. Finish me! Finish me! I deserve it!"
  • Villain Opening Scene: Taken 3 opens with Malankov killing a man who found an empty safe.

Other characters:

    Stuart St. John 

Stuart St. John

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/stuarttaken.jpg
Stuart's appearance in the first film.
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dhs__stuart_st_john_dougray_scott_in_taken_3.png
Stuart's appearance in Taken 3

Played By: Xander Berkeley (Taken), Dougray Scott (Taken 3)

A millionaire who's Lenore's current husband and Kim's stepfather.


  • Ascended Extra: Started out as a minor character in the original film and became the Big Bad of the third one.
  • Big Bad: In Taken 3
  • Faceā€“Heel Turn: He becomes the third film's main villain.
  • Ironic Echo: His explanation to Bryan about why Malankov's mob is after him in the third movie sounds quite similar to Bryan's threat from the first film.
    Bryan: They would have killed her someplace else, so why are they coming after me?
    Stuart: Because I told them who you were, that you would find them and kill them.
  • Sudden Sequel Heel Syndrome: A neutral character in the first film, and the antagonist in the third film.
  • Took a Level in Jerkass: Although he never appears in Taken 2, it's mentioned by Lenore that he's become much nastier. In the third film, he out and out orchestrates her murder to collect on her life insurance policy while framing Bryan for it.
  • What Happened to the Mouse?: We're not quite sure what becomes of Stuart after he's arrested in the third film. Bryan promises him that he'll come for him after he inevitably gets acquitted or a short jail sentence because of his connections, but it's not clear if Stuart would later pull a Better to Die than Be Killed to avoid whatever Bryan has planned for him, if Bryan winds up killing him eventually, or even if he ends up executed (another outcome that's implied here).
  • You Don't Look Like You: Due to his switch in actors who look nothing alike between his two appearances, he looks very different in the third movie from the first one. On top of lacking facial hair, he looks a lot younger.

    Amanda 

Amanda

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/vlcsnap_2014_10_21_18h12m59s244.png

Played By: Katie Cassidy

Kim's best friend and travel partner in the first movie, who gets abducted alongside her and later accidentally killed by the Albanian sex traffickers.


  • Accidental Murder: Bryan finds her dead the moment she's seen after getting kidnapped, but it's quite clear that this wasn't intended by the Albanians, as they were intending for her to be sold alongside Kim. Her cause of death could be excessive drug use on part of the Albanians.
  • Dumb Blonde: Way to give away literally every detail about your lodgings, address, and personal details to that handsome stranger that's suspiciously kind to you outside the airport, Amanda.
  • Forgotten Fallen Friend: No one really says anything about her after her death, even Kim herself.
  • Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Lied to Kim and Lenore (who agreed to the trip under the impression that Kim would be accompanied by several legal adults) about her cousins being part of the vacation. Then she allows Peter (a complete stranger) to share a cab with them and tells him they're staying by themselves - all because she thought he was hot and wanted a one-night-stand. Even when Kim scolds her for this, she brushes her off with a "Who cares?" Her carelessness leads to her and Kim being kidnapped by a sex trafficking ring and sold as sex slaves, with her dying of an overdose.
  • No Full Name Given: Only her first name is stated.
  • Sex Signals Death: Her death is meant to show how high the stakes with the bad guys are early on (and establish that Kim is a virgin).
  • Too Dumb to Live: Sure, just tell the seemingly nice stranger that you met at the airport exactly where you're staying and that you're completely alone, just because you think he's hot. What could possibly go wrong?
  • The Unseen: The entirety of her family. Her parents are never seen, mentioned or even spoken to via phone; and she says her cousins in Paris have gone on holiday for months, leaving the apartment for her and Kim. This applies even after Bryan finds Amanda's dead corpse, so it's entriely possible that by the end of the film her family still haven't noticed she's missing.

    Sam Gilroy 

Sam Gilroy

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sam_517.png

Played By: Leland Orser

A fellow ex-CIA operative and friend of Bryan, and Kim's godfather. In all three films, he serves as a minor communications assistant to Bryan.


  • Chekhov's Gunman: Sam first shows up for a buddy get-together with Bryan at the beginning of the first film. He is later called up to get some information about what happened to Kim and what their best options are. Sam continues playing this role in the next two movies.
  • Uncertain Doom: We don't know his fate after the third film's events. Last we see him, he's unconscious after having been shot by Stuart, and while a cop says he's still alive when they find him, we never found out if he survived.

    Sheerah 

Sheerah

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/fhd008tkn_holly_valance_003.jpg

Played By: Holly Valance

A fictional pop star whom Bryan saves from a stalker during one of his security shifts in the first film.


  • Heroic BSoD: She has a minor one, when Bryan saves her from a crazed fan with a knife.
  • I Owe You My Life: Decides to thank Bryan by providing him with the tips his daughter wanted to help start her own career.
  • Jerkass Has a Point: Dismissively tells Bryan that his daughter should consider another career besides singing. Not long after, she gets mobbed by fans, one of whom tries to kill her. She later clarifies being a pop star isn't all it's cracked up to be.
  • Pet the Dog: Despite what she thinks of the career choice, because Bryan saved her life, she decides to give Kim some singing lessons. At her own house, no less.
  • Rich Bitch: Averted. She can give off this vibe, but she's merely jaded.

    Frank Dotzler 

Inspector Frank Dotzler

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/inspector_frank_dotzler_forest_whitaker_in_taken_3.png

Played By: Forest Whitaker

An LAPD detective investigating a murder linked to Bryan.


  • Expy: Of both US Marshal Samuel Gerard and Lt. Jon Kavanaugh, Whitaker's character on The Shield.
  • Spotting the Thread: He could tell that Bryan was being framed for Lenore's murder because he was buying groceries when he returned home. And he kept asking himself, who would be stupid enough to go buy groceries when his first priority should've been trying to get away with murder.

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