After a career spent teetering on the edges of the action genre (Star Wars, Batman Begins, Rob Roy, Darkman), Liam Neeson finally jumps in with both feet in the French-produced flick Taken, which grabs the bone-snapping rhythms of the Bourne films, and applies them to a slightly absurd - but savagely entertaining - redux on classic head-smashers like Death Wish, The Exterminator and Vigilante. Written and produced by high stylist Luc Besson, and directed with inventive flair by Pierre Morel (District B13), Taken is all about the surface sheen and its relentless sense of pace - if you're after something intellectual, turn around and start running.

The unimaginatively named Bryan Mills (Neeson) is a former shady government agent/mercenary type who's now trying to live a quieter life in close proximity to his teenage daughter, Kim (Maggie Grace), who now lives with Bryan's estranged wife (Famke Janssen) and her new husband (Xander Berkeley). When Kim announces that she's off to Paris for a holiday, Bryan cracks it, afraid that she'll be put in harm's way. And sure enough, about three minutes after she's hit the Parisian tarmac, Kim is kidnapped by a bunch of Albanian degenerates who want to sell her off as a sex slave. Enter Bryan with a collection of knives and guns, with his switch now flicked to "killing machine", and his sights set on rescuing his daughter.

Despite its familiarity and air of insensitivity (in these divisive times, did the bad guys really have to be Albanians?), Taken is an excitingly staged action flick. The fight scenes have a genuine snap-and-crack, and there are several edge-of-the-seat chase sequences, while Neeson makes for an engaging and relatively believable hero. Taken is neither original nor meaningful.but that's not really the point, is it?