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Movies:

  • Accidental Aesop: Liam Neeson has stated that since the first film came out, people have come up to him and said they will never send their kids to Europe and thanked him for making the movie to warn them. It was never his intention to encourage xenophobia against Europeans, especially since he's European himself (Irish).
  • Alternative Character Interpretation: In the second movie, during the Albanians' interrogation on Jean-Claude, one of them waves his son's teddy bear in his face. It's left vague about whether they're implying they've already killed his family with this, or are threatening to do so if he doesn't tell them what they want to know.
  • Americans Hate Tingle: Unsurprisingly, the movies are panned by many Albanians for depicting their country as a Ruritania-like Wretched Hive filled with Balkan Bastard Human Traffickers. A tourism campaign named "Be Taken by Albania" called out the negative stereotypes from the movie and invited Liam Neeson to visit the country. This is because while human trafficking is a major problem in Albania, most of the victims are poor local women whose disappearance wouldn't attract nearly as much international attention as that of a wealthy tourist from a developed nation.
  • And You Thought It Would Fail: Liam Neeson himself never expected the original movie to have at least a reasonable revenue, to the point where he didn't even expect it would come out in theatres and instead just be a direct-to-video release. Not only was it a massive success, it cemented his image of a badass action star.
  • Critical Dissonance:
    • Although the first film got generally lukewarm reactions from critics, it was very popular with moviegoers and grossed over $200 million worldwide.
    • The sequel got harsher criticism, but box office was even better. Surpassing the first movie by more than $100 million, it eventually became one of the most comercially successful French movies ever worldwide.
  • Director Displacement: Luc Besson produced and co-wrote the films, yet didn't direct any of them.
  • Ending Fatigue: Taken 3. First, there's the ideally climactic Storming the Castle shootout on Oleg Malankov's hideout, which ends with Bryan defeating Malankov. Then, Malankov reveals that he was merely The Dragon to Stuart's plan all along, with Stuart having played both Bryan and Malankov. Stuart wounds Sam and kidnaps Kim, forcing Bryan to chase after Stuart to an airport in a Porsche and eventually ramming it into the wheels of Stuart's plane, where he climbs out of the wreckage and is ultimately subdued by Bryan by being shot and by being knocked out when Bryan pistol whips him.
  • Ensemble Dark Horse: Brian's old ex-CIA friends.
  • Escapist Character: Bryan is this for the middle-aged set. Despite being a middle-aged divorcee, he's still freakishly competent on his quest(s) to save his family (that does still love him, deep down), including rescuing his (explicitly) virginal college-aged daughter.
  • First Installment Wins: It's commonly agreed that the original film is the best of the series, although a few also point to Taken 2 as being even better.
  • Fridge Logic: In Mark Kermode's review of the first film, he posed a question for viewers during the climax - who's driving the boat?
  • Genius Bonus: The first film has a scene where a father is telling his two children the story of "Little Red Riding Hood". The story has often been cited as a cautionary tale against speaking to strangers and the dangers of the sex trade... both of which are themes that appear in the film.
  • Harsher in Hindsight: The fact the whole series is driven by revenge and desire to avenge and protect loved ones gets a LOT harder to look at now that Liam Neeson admitted that he once considered killing a black person out of revenge because his friend was raped.
  • Hilarious in Hindsight:
    • This is the second Luc Besson film that has an actor from the Star Wars prequel trilogy. His previous movie The Professional had Natalie Portman as one of the main leads and she would go on to portray Anakin Skywalker's wife Padme Amidala.
    • Bryan is referred to as Rambo at one point. Rambo: Last Blood, the Grand Finale of the Rambo franchise, is sometimes seen as being similar to Taken due to having Rambo fighting sex traffickers who kidnapped his niece.
  • Homegrown Hero: It's about a certain someone taking on a Parisian sex slave ring - that someone is Liam Neeson as a retired CIA agent.
  • I Am Not Leonard Nimoy: As far as pop culture is concerned, the main character of the Taken films is Liam Neeson. You can probably count the times someone referencing the series has referred to the character by his actual name on one hand.
  • I Am Not Shazam: In-Universe. The characters from BoJack Horseman think Bryan Mills' name is Mr. Taken.
  • Magnificent Bastard: Bryan Mills is a former field agent who learns his daughter Kim has been kidnapped and immediately heads to France to save her. Gleaning the locations of his targets, Bryan entraps a group of pimps by planting a bug on one and then tracks the men who kidnapped his daughter by posing as a corrupt cop and tricking one into repeating a phrase he heard him use on the phone. Bryan also forces a crooked cop into giving him information by threatening the man's wife. Later recovering Kim, Bryan is always ready when his enemies come for him, frequently outsmarting them and fighting as intelligently as possible using his "particular set of skills."
  • Memetic Mutation:
    • The website True LAD (think stereotypical "lads" story in the style of FML or IMMD) will occasionally see a story about Taken or at least referencing it, presumably due to Neeson's sheer badassery. These stories range from just quoting the "I will find you..." line, saying how even though they have it on DVD, will be watching it on the TV later, or claiming how if they'd saved Holly Valance from being stabbed they'd ask for more than free singing lessons for their daughter... All these "stories" invariably have high numbers of votes up.
    • More generally, the "I will find you and I will kill you" speech is frequently quoted, and the specifics of it are often swapped to apply it to other Liam Neeson roles.
    • In the episodes of their "Everything Wrong with..." video series for the non-Taken movies starring Liam Neeson, the satirical YouTube channel CinemaSins gives a sin for every scene Neeson is not killing someone specifically due to Taken. They (and many others) also liken Neeson to a God of badassery.
    • "Liam Neeson climbs/jumps a fence" has practically become a byword for overdone editing; the term comes from a scene in the third movie, where 12 different cuts are used in the quick moment of Bryan climbing the fence in question.
    • And then there's the oft-quoted review tagline, "Taken 3 makes Taken 2 look like Taken."
  • Narm: Plenty in the third film.
    • The blood in the hall is literally the only sign that Lenore is dead, as there's no blood at all on her body, the bed, or even the murder weapon. Bryan later says her throat was slashed, which would cause massive bleeding, but we see no evidence of this.
    • Bryan's fence climb, for the 12 cuts it packs into such a simple scene.
    • Dotzler's winning logic for why Bryan couldn't have killed Lenore: "the bagels were still warm."
    • Good luck trying to take the final fight between Bryan and Oleg Malankov seriously as the latter spends most of the fight in tighty-whities.
  • One-Scene Wonder: The hilariously out-of-his-depth translator that Bryan hires, as well as the Affably Evil Punch-Clock Villain he talks to after being captured.
  • Rescued from the Scrappy Heap: Or the Hate Sink Heap in this case, but many people have forgiven Lenore for her Took a Level in Kindness in the sequel.
  • Once Original, Now Overdone:
    • Much like Leslie Nielsen in Airplane!, Liam Neeson was able to use this film to completely change his career track into a bunch of other badass old man roles and practically revived the concept of the old man as a viable Hollywood action film protagonist before The Expendables cemented it, meaning younger viewers may find it hard to appreciate how shocking it was at the time to see such a serious, highbrow actor doing a film like this.
    • When it came out, the concept of "established actor in a retired badass agent role" was the most creative choice possible. Fast-forward just few years since its release, and it's a joke within the industry about older actors and actresses doing "their Taken".
  • Sequelitis: While Taken 2 was arguably a Contested Sequel, Taken 3 is largely considered weak for turning Stuart into a full-blown villain (in spite of it already being hinted at in Taken 2), having Bryan fight and pass through showdowns in open public spaces with no persecutions whatsoever, the prominent use of excessively over-the-top action wherein no character could have survived by any means, and its editing with excessive shots and cuts for its overall length (mainly the infamous fence climb).
  • Signature Line: Bryan's Badass Boast to the kidnappers in the first movie. Considering its frequent use in pre-release promotions, it may have already been anticipated beforehand.
  • Signature Scene: For all the wrong reasons, Bryan hopping a fence in the third movie due it having twelve different camera cuts for such a simple action.
  • Spiritual Licensee:
    • Many people feel the original film was the best 24 movie ever made. Even the protagonist has a time limit to accomplish his mission, and Xander Berkeley is among the cast.
    • Additionally, the plot of an American veteran agent going up against a gang of Eastern European traffickers makes the film a decent adaptation of The Punisher MAX story arc The Slavers, albeit set in Europe.
  • Spiritual Successor:
    • To Commando, wherein another Retired Badass races against time to rescue his little girl.
    • On the other end, ABC's Missing, starring Ashley Judd, is about a former CIA agent Mama Bear looking for her abducted son and stumbling onto some sort of larger plot. However, Becca Winstone has more backup and friends than Mills.
  • Surprisingly Improved Sequel: Some viewers who generally didn't like the second film do find the third to be superior to it.

TV series:

  • Alternative Character Interpretation: The aliens.
    • Are they truly emotionless beings that have no concept of good or evil?
      • They never intentionally kill anyone and don't conquer the planet despite their huge technological superiority.
    • On the other hand even the aliens seemingly act with more wanton cruelty than is necessary. Instead of whisking away a pregnant Lisa Clarke from pursuing agents (they can beam people through solid walls), they surround her with a dangerous energy field that burns anyone approaching it.
  • Cliché Storm: Largely the point.
  • Complete Monster: Owen Crawford is a Colonel of the United States Air Force and the head of their secret UFO Project. Owen used his charming demeanor to convince his superior's daughter, Anne, to marry him in order to further his career and gain control of the UFO Project, blackmailing him with an alien artifact found by his girlfriend Sue who he beats to death to keep quiet. When trying to reverse-engineer the spaceship they found, he has a pair of psychic twins attempt to pilot the craft, leaving them in there longer than humanly safe which leads to their deaths, remarking that they were already dead when they arrived. Owen then goes after the half-alien child Jacob Clarke, having an affair with Jacob's mother Sally, using her loneliness to get to Jacob so he can have him fly the ship and then kill and dissect him to discover the source of his powers. He is also a cruel and horrible leader, husband and father, threatening to send his wife to an asylum for her alcoholism and treating his son Eric with little respect or love, and forsakes the life of Dr. Kreutz. When Anne reveals his secrets to their sons, Owen has her sent away to a hospital, only to kill her and Bowen and frame their deaths on the latter. A cruel and unfeeling sociopath, Owen would do anything to learn the aliens' secrets, even sacrificing his own family and loved ones to do so.
  • Hilarious in Hindsight: Emily Bergl played Lisa Clarke, a one-quarter alien woman, in the series. She later played another one-quarter alien woman, Bethany, in the Star Trek: Enterprise episode "North Star".
  • Jerkass Woobie:
    • Eric Crawford, despite becoming like his father Owen and letting his brother Sam die in Alaska, does warrant some sympathy. He is The Unfavorite of the family and was emotionally abused by his father who favored his brother Sam over him. Unlike his father, Eric genuinely regrets his heinous actions and wanted to repent for them, even believing that with Becky he could become a better man. When his daughter Mary attempts to trap Allie and her parents, Eric tries to warn them before he is shot dead. And the reason that his father hated him? Because Jacob showed Owen that in his final moments, Eric would be there and dreaded the day when he would die and took out his fear and anger on his son.
    • Ray Morrison is this in spades. He starts off as a rude and ill-tempered asshole who insults everyone and casts doubt on his therapy group's abduction stories, even pulling a gun on them and takes them hostage which leads to Charlie getting shot. However his actions become more understandable when it's revealed he was molested as a child, and made up the story about being abducted by aliens because he refused to believe a human is capable of such a heinous crime. Thankfully Ray is completely remorseful for what he has done and by the time we see him again in the series finale he helps defend Allie against the army.
  • Les Yay: Lisa and Nina.
  • Magnificent Bastard: Dr. Chet Wakeman is a childish but brilliant scientist working on the United States Air Force's secret UFO project to discover the aliens' goals. Using his experiments on humans and animals alike, Wakeman is able to swiftly learn about the dangers of the alien implants and correctly deduces the importance of the Clarke and Keys families in the aliens' plans. After capturing the half-alien child Allie, Wakeman builds a helmet capable of nullifying her powers and blocking her psychic signals from the aliens in order to try and use her as bait to draw them out, reacting only with glee and amazement when the seeming ship is revealed to be a projection created by Allie's powers. Deducing that the aliens wish to use hybridization to evolve and reclaim their emotions, Wakeman attempts to warn Allie and her family, and when killed by his lover and partner Mary Crawford has a pre-recorded message sent to her which convinces her to give up her hunt. Arguably the most intelligent human in the series, Wakeman was ultimately content with allowing the aliens to finish their work uninterrupted, acknowledging that mankind was not ready to handle such knowledge and technology.
  • Retroactive Recognition:
    • Dakota Fanning played Allie Keys, narrating all ten episodes and appearing in the last four.
    • Anton Yelchin played Jacob Clarke in "Jacob and Jesse" and "High Hopes".
    • Ryan Hurst played Tom Clarke in "Jacob and Jesse", "High Hopes", "Maintenance", "Charlie and Lisa" and "Taken".
    • Elle Fanning played the three-year-old Allie in the final scene of "Charlie and Lisa".
    • Justin Chatwin played Clauson in the final two episodes "John" and "Taken".
  • Squick:
    • The relationship between Mary and Dr. Wakeman, even if it's for this line alone after they have sex in "Charlie and Lisa":
      Dr. Wakemen: I've wanted this since you were 13.
      Mary: Me too.
    • In "Charlie and Lisa", the image of the creepy carny often used by the aliens says, "Lisa, today you are a woman" to the 13-year-old Lisa Clarke shortly after her first period.
  • Unintentionally Unsympathetic:
    • The townspeople of Hyder, Alaska in "Acid Tests", excluding the little girl Wendy, her mother and Leo. When we learn why the Sheriff murdered Larry, we're supposed to understand and feel somewhat sorry towards them due to them not being able to successfully provide for the town without their farm animals. But the problem is that they spent the entire episode acting like stupid jackasses for no reason, especially the Sheriff who straight-up refuses to help the archaeological team when one of their own goes missing. Because of this, Sam is able to figure out and learn about the conspiracy plaguing the town and leads to him finding out about Lester. Had the Sheriff actually done his job correctly and been less of a hostile asshole towards the group, then they would have left things alone. Wendy's mother at first suffers from this, but appears to subvert it when she hears that her daughter was actually saved by Lester, and she can only look on silence as Lester's cabin is set on fire.
    • Tom Clarke in his adulthood can be like this, given that the reason why he started to try and debunk the government's alien conspiracy was out of revenge against Owen Crawford, and not the fact that the government is hiding stuff from the public. He also mocks his mother's belief in aliens as well as denies the fact that they witness something despite his brother Jacob having powers, a fact he refuses to acknowledge as proof until he uses them to create a projection of John. His "The Reason You Suck" Speech to Becky is supposed to be seen as him trying to make her come back to her senses, but his words and demeanor are very toxic towards his sister, almost sounding like he doesn't care about Becky's happiness. While he more or less is right, Tom still acted very vindictive and appears to believe that all the Crawfords are bad people simply because of Owen.
  • The Woobie: Jesse Keys. Out of all the characters in the series and his family in particular, Jesse had it the roughest. First his father Russell leaves him and his mother in order to try and protect him from the aliens, then after they reconnect Jesse becomes the aliens' next subject, in which he is experimented on repeatedly for 10 days (which happened when he was still a boy). When he and his father go to the Air Force to tell them what they know, Owen double crosses them, detains Jesse and has Russell sedated to remove his implant (with fatal results for everyone involved in the attempt), only for Jesse to be taken by the aliens again. When he goes to Vietnam, he openly tries to kill himself several times, only to be saved by the aliens but also leaving him with survivor's guilt when his squadmates were killed instead. He does have at least nine years of happiness with his wife and son Charlie, but when the abductions start up again, he tries to seek help in removing his implant so he won't hurt his family, but the UFO Project tries to use him for their own ends, forcing him to run. Jesse's implant is eventually removed by the aliens, who apparently are tired of him resisting, but this leaves Jesse near-catatonic for the rest of his life, a broken shell of his former self. The only thing he can say to Charlie when he next sees him is to furiously yell for him to leave as they are coming for him.

Bryan: "If you don't clean up this Natter, I will look for you. I will find you. And I will kill you."

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