Taken

Mixed reviews for Taken? I don't want to scan any of them, let them accidentally bias my own opinion. Given my love for Leon the Professional, when I grokked their connection, I had to see this one. And so Denise and I saw it today.

I'll just start by saying that Denise, who generally prefers action flicks more than I claim to, didn't think it was her cup of tea: primarily, there weren't enough explosions for her, and the torture turned her off. Me, I found the torture integral to the storyline and felt it fit right in.

For me, there's a visceral response to thrillers that I often will use to gauge my enjoyment of said thriller: time spent either gritting my teeth and/or holding my breath. There is a direct correlation between the frequency a thriller's intensity causes these reactions in me and my pure enjoyment of the film. I did a lot of breath holding.

It's been a while since Liam Neeson's proven himself a bad ass (Qui Gon is bad ass lite), but I think he's finally topped even Darkman for bad-assery.

Tangentially: ADJ, I finally watched Pineapple Express yesterday and it was every bit as good as you said it would be (the best of Apatow's flicks since Virgin, in my not-so-humble opinion), now go watch Smiley Face.