Monday, February 01, 2010

Taken (2008)

While the xenophobic anxiety of Americans abroad isn’t a new subject (even Alfred Hitchcock approached the topic in his 1956 remake of The Man Who Knew Too Much), it’s difficult to watch certain scenes in Taken without thinking of contemporary parallels. It is moments like these in which the politics of action heroism reveal their hidden complexity. With the line between “good guy” and “bad guy” blurred, we allow the action hero to cross certain moral boundaries that would otherwise be prohibited.

Read my full review of Taken here at Not Coming to a Theater Near You.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Dan Zukovic's "THE LAST BIG THING", called the "best unknown American film of the 1990's" in the film book "Defining Moments in Movies" (Editor: Chris Fujiwara), was finally released on DVD by Vanguard Cinema (www.vanguardcinema.com/thelastbigthing/thelastbigthing), and is currently debuting on Cable Video On Demand. Featuring an important early role by 2011 Best Supporting Actor Oscar Nominee Mark Ruffalo ("Shutter Island", "Zodiac", "The Kids Are Alright"), "THE LAST BIG THING" had a US theatrical release in 1998, and gained a cult following over several years of screenings on the Showtime Networks.

"A distinctly brilliant and original work." Kevin Thomas - Los Angeles Times
"A satire whose best moments echo the tone of a Nathanial West novel...Nasty Fun!"
Stephen Holden - New York Times
"One of the cleverest recent satires on contemporary Los Angeles...a very funny sleeper!" Michael Wilmington - Chicago Tribune
"One of the few truly original low budget comedies of recent years." John Hartl - Seattle Times
"'The Last Big Thing' is freakin' hilarious! The most important and overlooked
indie film of the 1990's. " Chris Gore - Film Threat