Up-front disclaimer. We usually only attend one movie a month, preferring instead to wait and purchase the DVD to expand our library, approaching 1000. We choose our movies carefully; even so, Taken was an amazing surprise. We've followed Neesen closely since Suspect and fell for his acting in Rob Roy, but this may be his best work ever. Completely believable as "retired", "skilled" and a "doting father". Only a little slow to start, this thing is a great action movie with characters you really can like (or hate, as the case may be). Our wives, usually polite patrons, were cursing and screaming at the bad guys and predicaments. By far and away the best movie of its genre we've seen in several years.
Smith, Theron and Bateman do a great job with a quality script. Character development was good and we bought into their lives. My only regret is that Berg didn't incorporate more action into the movie. Also, we were quite burned out on some of the best scenes because of the trailer being played too often on network TV. That being said, after seeing this in the theater we would still probably buy and add it to our DVD collection.
Amazing special effects. Always loved Downey's and Bridges' work. They were first rate in this one. It was very easy to suspend disbelief. Highly recommended.