Was one of the worst movies I have ever seen and undermined the entire subject human trafficking.

Liam's career is one of the strangest...

quote:

MeandJulio
Slacker
Posted 13 March 2009 01:49 PM
Was one of the worst movies I have ever seen and undermined the entire subject human trafficking.

Liam's career is one of the strangest...

You seem to be judging this film not on the merits of the technical components of this film but on its political commentary and dramatization of the facts or distortions. Usually, such a basis for rating a movie isn't necessarily used exclusively with most films. Do you have other problems with the movie or is it that you just disagree with its premise and how the movie does an injustice to the actual terrible human issue of human slavery?

Have you seen it? The film seemed like a parody of a thriller on human trafficking (unbeknownst to the people who made it). The most poorly written, poorly acted, poorly directed film I have seen in theaters since...Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. The only decent aspect of the film was the trailer, which served as the real injustice to victims of these tragedies - by utilizing this premise to fill seats in the theater, without remotely taking the issue seriously.

quote:

MeandJulio
Slacker
Posted 16 March 2009 12:54 PM Hide Post
Have you seen it? The film seemed like a parody of a thriller on human trafficking (unbeknownst to the people who made it). The most poorly written, poorly acted, poorly directed film I have seen in theaters since...Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. The only decent aspect of the film was the trailer, which served as the real injustice to victims of these tragedies - by utilizing this premise to fill seats in the theater, without remotely taking the issue seriously.

Most poorly written? The dialogue seemed quite understandable and the script didn't seem to hamper the actors is speaking their lines which seemed to flow naturally and smoothly. The dialogue made sense.

Poorly acted? The performances seemed a on par with other movies. The actors behaved without awkwardness and seemed to retain their characters.

Poorly directed? The overall presentation seemed to be coherent and the director was able to put the entire story into a product that was entertaining, never boring.

You are just making absolute statements without explaining your beliefs ("most poorly") is a high negative standard to defend). It remains difficult to determine whether your strong opinion about human trafficking isn't coloring your opinion about this movie and requiring a higher standard for this movie because of your values.

I would agree with you that if you are looking for a movie on human trafficking that is supposed to get the public upset and angry about human trafficking so that they would want to actually do something about it, this wasn't the movie, but that wasn't its intention, and it doesn't necessarily have to be to be an adequate movie that makes money and entertains the public (which it apparent has) then it likely can't be the worst movie of the year.

The scenes between Liam & friends and Liam & family were so unnatural, it was unwatchable. However, the dialogue was nothing more than a screenwriting exercise Kim: You don't have to worry. Bryan: That's like telling water not to be wet, sweetie. It became more uncomfortable to watch Liam recite lines like, "now's not the time for dick measuring!" I think people would have been offended by this xenophobic mess, if it wasn't so laughable. I guess what I expected from Besson and Kamen was The Transporter and instead I got Taxi.

quote:

MeandJulio
Slacker
Posted 16 March 2009 02:21 PM Hide Post
The scenes between Liam & friends and Liam & family were so unnatural, it was unwatchable. However, the dialogue was nothing more than a screenwriting exercise Kim: You don't have to worry. Bryan: That's like telling water not to be wet, sweetie. It became more uncomfortable to watch Liam recite lines like, "now's not the time for dick measuring!" I think people would have been offended by this xenophobic mess, if it wasn't so laughable. I guess what I expected from Besson and Kamen was The Transporter and instead I got Taxi.

Well I will admit that you provided a decent response and that it's solid enough that to respond adequately would require me to see the movie again, probably on DVD so I could stop and take notes. I don't know if I want to do this as I've rated this movie as a decent movie but not one that will get anywhere near my top movie list or honorable mention. So I will just respond with my brief opinion of the movie that I put up on IMDb:

Been there, done that..."Taken" doesn't really offer much new in the
way of action, combining elements of "Ransom," "Bourne Identity," even
"Die Hard." However, the action fighting scene and car chases aren't
quite as crisp as "Bourne," nor the stakes quite as high as in "Die
Hard." The storyline and the idea of what happens to Liam Neeson's
character's daughter has some potent impact, his character has some
creative mental stunts, and the chain of events mostly articulate and
reasonable. Even Liam Neeson's escape from the bad guys wasn't quite
believable, losing the climatic impact. The beginning relational issues
seemed fairly generic and stereotypical and an overly expansive
explanation was provided by the boys night in. This above average
action-thriller, however, just can't reach the power and intensity of
its predecessors. It's mostly derivative.

In reading my opinion over and your comment about how the scenes between Liam & friends and his family were unnatural, seem to actually be similar in tone. Your subsequent reaction to this movie was similar to my strongly negative reaction at the beginning of Cloverfield (2008) which ruined most of the rest of the movie for me. In some ways I can understand how you could end up feeling about this movie the way you did.

It's too bad about the guy's wife though, that's horrible.

quote:

Jodofosho
Participant
Posted 19 March 2009 02:54 PM Hide Post
It's too bad about the guy's wife though, that's horrible.

A very nice and welcomed comment!

She was great and I have actually been feeling terrible about having posted negative comments about Liam.

quote:

MeandJulio
Slacker First Class
Posted 20 March 2009 09:32 AM Hide Post
She was great and I have actually been feeling terrible about having posted negative comments about Liam.

This forum is about subjective and theoretical judgments about movies which will endure most likely even after we're dead and gone. Sometimes it's hard to separate the film from the real people but in most cases there is reality and fiction. Audrey Hepburn lived quite a life. she's now dead, but her beauty and sophistication live on in her films, good and bad, in a timeless way.

Really? Because Taken is my favorite film of all time. And you're the first person I've met who hated it, I swear to God.

But, everyone has opinions...