A conventional tale of kidnapping and taking the law into your own hands to exact return of your loved one with a bit of revenge thrown in. Liam Neeson, former "government worker" who describes his former job title as "Preventer" finds that his daughter has been kidnapped in Paris by an organization specializing in human trafficking. He immediately takes control of the situation, flies to Paris, meets up with old acquaintances (who may or may not have been friendly in the past) and generally kicks ass. This is clearly a summer action film, so I don't know why it is released in February.
The one thing (or one of the things) that I noticed is a change in tone by writer Luc Besson. In his previous offerings (The Transporter series and District B-13), he offers high action with at least a modicum of a morality to provide motivation for the characters. Here the motivation is revenge, and that completely changes the character of the film. Suddenly killing becomes personal, brutal, cold. Besson puts this new tone front and center, forcing to viewer to see the brutality that revenge requires. I am curious to see how this tone carries on into the summer. Does Besson lead the way, providing a preview of a new willingness for filmmakers to make violence (more) personal and brutal in the mainstream? Or will viewers notice the subtle shift to a revenge morality, and reject the imagery that goes with it?
3-stars
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