Review of Season One:
I found TAKEN, a pseudo-prequel series to the film trilogy starring Liam Neeson, to be a surprisingly decent thriller series and much better than I was expecting. It's a low budget enterprise for sure, and that's evident in the small, enclosed sets and the lack of big infrastructure. However, as a character-focused work this happens to turn out rather nicely. Clive Standen progresses well from his supporting role in VIKINGS, and it's nice to see '80s starlet Jennifer Beals playing something very different. The series is suspenseful throughout and features a wealth of well-directed action taking place in every episode; for me, there's little to fault.
Review of Season Two:
Season two of TAKEN perhaps very slightly loses some of the edge of the first series, perhaps because at sixteen episodes this feels very slightly padded out. However, it's still a highly enjoyable show, mainly thanks to the action scenes which are as hard-hitting and gritty as they were previously. Villains of the week abound here, alongside an overarching bad guy story which makes sense given the current international distrust of governments and politicians. The film's supporting cast and one-episode actors are well chosen, with Nick E. Tarabay particularly standing out in the penultimate episode. A pity this was cancelled as I think it's much more entertaining than most of the rubbish out there.
I found TAKEN, a pseudo-prequel series to the film trilogy starring Liam Neeson, to be a surprisingly decent thriller series and much better than I was expecting. It's a low budget enterprise for sure, and that's evident in the small, enclosed sets and the lack of big infrastructure. However, as a character-focused work this happens to turn out rather nicely. Clive Standen progresses well from his supporting role in VIKINGS, and it's nice to see '80s starlet Jennifer Beals playing something very different. The series is suspenseful throughout and features a wealth of well-directed action taking place in every episode; for me, there's little to fault.
Review of Season Two:
Season two of TAKEN perhaps very slightly loses some of the edge of the first series, perhaps because at sixteen episodes this feels very slightly padded out. However, it's still a highly enjoyable show, mainly thanks to the action scenes which are as hard-hitting and gritty as they were previously. Villains of the week abound here, alongside an overarching bad guy story which makes sense given the current international distrust of governments and politicians. The film's supporting cast and one-episode actors are well chosen, with Nick E. Tarabay particularly standing out in the penultimate episode. A pity this was cancelled as I think it's much more entertaining than most of the rubbish out there.