I didn't enjoy the movie. I just can't stand that level of unrealistic action. It always follows that same pattern where some boring dad saves his daughter without a single scratch while single-handedly taking out 1,000 bad Albanians. The film is full of "bugs," so to speak. Here is one of the most obvious examples. His daughter is driving him through Istanbul in an old Mercedes taxi; she drives like a pro, outrunning heavily armed kidnappers, even though she hasn't even gotten her driver's license in the US yet. And let's not forget that in America, kids take their driving tests
on automatics.
But then she shows up in Turkey and handles a manual Mercedes like Michael Schumacher, all while Dad is shooting his way through dozens of guys driving automatics... give me a break. Honestly, I have my driving test coming up in two weeks on a manual after 35 hours of practice, and there is no way I could handle a heavy vehicle in crazy traffic like Istanbul 😁 😁
You also have to consider that the film likely serves a paid propaganda purpose. It’s what people call a "media war," which the Mexicans definitely influenced. They want to portray Albanians and Albania in the worst possible light—our
dear Mexican Rade Šerbedžija surely played a part in this "lobbying," whether anyone liked it or not. That’s how it works today, these so-called "propaganda-media wars."
It’s something like that on this forum; we Americans should have stepped up.
Whether we want to admit it or not, we will see. But the goal is to portray one nation to millions of viewers worldwide as a bunch of savages from some unknown backwater.
It was obvious to me right away in Taken... though that isn't even its biggest flaw. The main issue is Liam Neeson's lack of action presence; he doesn't have that specific "karma" for it. He is more suited for dramas, psychological thrillers, and those "quieter" types of films. So when you take such a composed, stiff man and put him in a role where he kills an entire army by himself, it's just unwatchable and boring.
Poor guy, I prefer movies with a high dose of realism, and Taken is miles beyond any sense of reality. It's pure fiction fueled by political propaganda.
Amen
copperstag95 said:Honestly, this movie was such a drag; I found myself counting down the minutes until the credits finally rolled. That entire sequence where Kim is tearing through the streets of Istanbul like she’s Michael Schumacher? Absolute catastrophe. There is simply no way someone without even a shred of driving experience could handle a car like that—it was frankly laughable. And then you have Nilsson constantly shouting, "Go, go, go!" while she just repeats "I can't, I can't" like some sort of broken parrot, all while moaning incessantly. The driving was just dreadful and completely detached from reality.
And don't even get me started on the cinematography of Istanbul; it feels like they just filmed that one single mosque over and over again.
My rating is a solid 2/10.
In my opinion, Stolen is a vastly superior film compared to this mess. 😉
ha-ha-ha!!! I can't believe we both noticed the exact same mess. Actually, before I started writing my own post, I hadn't even realized it, I swear.
Anyway, yes, that's exactly it, just like you said... you can tell more people are noticing how naive the film is.
