User reviews

There is more than one dimension upon which "Taken" must be judged. It's a movie, a TV mini-series, a large collection of "theatrical moments," it's somewhat of a social/political commentary, it's a diary for all the old (and young) hippies, and it's a "message" flick about possible new frontiers, etc. It's all of those things at once. It performs differently on all of those dimensions.

Without boring the reader with my opinions regarding each dimension, permit me to summarize by merely saying that yes, it is great in places, it works very well in others. It is a bit "TV-y" and trite on a small few. Also, the ending smacked of a corporate-marketing mentality. It almost said, "Stay tuned for a thin and overly drawn-out clunker of a TV series and/or series of never-as-good-as-the-original and frustratingly exploitative and hideous sequels." I really hope I'm not right about that--- but sadly, I fear that I am.

Overall, though, "Taken" it is a very good thing. Watch it, dig it, enjoy it! Oh--- and what's the deal with the little girl who played Allie? Dakota Fanning was her name? Wow! She was cute and perky, all right. But dang--- she went WAY beyond cute clear through to amazing. What a major find that little actor is! Think about it--- the producers needed a kid who could embody a cosmic wisdom that transcended all the earthly adults, AND still have the "little kid" vulnerability and cuteness of a real child. Fanning was a marvel at accomplishing all of those things at once.

Despite itss slow parts, We all loved Close Encounters of The Third Kind...right? well imagine Taking Close Encounters and stretching it out into twelve episodes. Just imagine how slow it would be then. Well if done correctly, such an idea could work exceptionally well. hence, we have Taken, Spielberg's and Dreamworks' return to the sky and who or what is beyond. An outstanding mini-series, which when it wants to be can evoke every emotion. sometimes it's grim sometimes it's utterly heart-warming, though the series as a whole is dark, it has incredible mystique. My advice is that you dedicate one week of your life to watching taken, one episode a night, although it's good enough that you may go through it in only two or three nights.

Starting with the Roswell incident of 1947, Taken chronicles three generations of Three different families leading up to the present day. they all have a part in this incredible story of a visit from other beings, who want something from us which they have waited a long time for.

There are not many names in the cast, I'll say that. The only ones people may recognize are Datoka Fanning and Heather Donahue (Blair Witch). which I wouldn't say there are any award worthy performances, everybody is invested enough to be convincing, especially Fanning.

I guarantee that unless you have a tree second attention span, You will come away from Taken with an amazing Television experience.

Okay, this is for anybody who was wondering if they should watch "Taken" and decided to check out the IMDb message boards. Here's the main point: If you're looking for a movie that's all about weird alien stuff and is full of out-there special effects, this may not be for you. Sure, the aliens they showed were pretty cool-looking, but they're not the important part of the movie. The human characters are, particularly the ones in the Keys, Crawford, and Clarke families. Especially Ally. This series was a sneaky way of exposing people to heart-warming family stories. And now that I read that back, I understand why you would need to call it sci-fi for people to watch. I am a female, but I'm not the "chick flick" type. I like stories about the strange and unusual. But the sad thing is that strong and loving families, like the Clarkes, are just that these days. This movie is not about extraterrestrial beings. It's about people and the world we live in... and the world our parents and grandparents lived in. The 20 hours it took for this story to unfold was necessary, because it allowed us to get to know the characters. And once you feel like you really know them, you start to feel what the feel. And isn't that what makes a great movie? I mean, if a movie can make you feel emotions you haven't experienced in awhile, it's worth 20 hours to me. If you want real "sci-fi", I suggest X-Files.

I've seen all but the last segment of this mini-series and think it is great. Heather Donahue wonderfully portrays the evil investigator in hot pursuit, free of any scruples. Dakota Fanning is a star as she portrays the series hero, Ally, and narrates the story. The story itself draws on the current belief in Alien abduction, but in fact the real threat of being "taken" comes more from the scientists and military investigators who doggedly pursue their prey without any regard for the humanity of those they come into contact with, including the alien hybrids. Conversely, the alien hybrids have achieved a greater humanity than most of us ever will, culminating in Ally who not only feels intense sensitivity and compassion for people but has the power to act on it in ways impossible for us. Interestly, we identify with the hybrids as the pursued and as a those beings possessing those human qualities that we would most like to possess. That is what the series intended and is similar to "AI" in that regard. The film deals with our current mythology, which like all great and timeless mythologies explores our nature through an examination of the Gods and man and their interactions. Mythology changes though as it adapts to the conflicts human beings face in a particular moment in time. Spielberg is extremely important in that he has chronicled this changing mythology and our changing sense or ourselves beginning with "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" followed by "E.T." "Taken" is far darker, but so are we. It serves the purpose of all great mythology however by providing us the opportunity of self-examination.

As a huge fan of "The X-Files" and related fare, one would think I would have viewed Steven Spielberg's "Taken" earlier than its ten-year anniversary. However, I was a bit skeptical of the entire concept (thinking of it as "just another alien show") and only began viewing when it was purchased by another family member. Boy, was I ever wrong about the course of this delightfully nuanced miniseries.

For a basic plot summary, "Taken" focuses on three families: the Clarkes, the Crawfords, & and the Keys. From the Roswell "crash" of the late 1940s until the "present day" (2002), this series tells the story of how the three families are intertwined both with each other and a mysterious alien presence stemming from that Roswell incident.

The thing to be aware of regarding this miniseries is that it is MUCH more about characters & family relationships than it is about aliens. Kind of like how "Band of Brothers" is as much about friendship and brotherhood as it is about war. While the "alien" angle is deeply embedded in the overall narrative, the extremely rich characters are easily what will make you keep watching for all ten episodes. From generation to generation, Spielberg weaves a compelling dramatic tale that always keeps you wondering what will happen next.

One word of warning: Do not be discouraged after the first 1-2 episodes, as this show takes a little bit of time to lay its own groundwork. Once you get to about the third episode, it starts really taking off to the point where you may finding yourself in "marathon mode" very quickly.

Overall, "Taken" can appeal to three primary audiences: those who just love a good science fiction yarn, those who prefer character dramas of the highest order, and those who can appreciate the generational aspect of the whole experience. In other words, Steven Spielberg does it again.

I've been a SciFi fan all my life. Nevertheless I watched many of the effect driven shows, in the end its always the story that is important to me. Good if the effects are credible, but too many shows or movies have nothing really interesting besides the effects. I watch Taken for about the third time now. I really like that it is not just about good guys killing bad aliens. There are not effects all over the place, just where they are needed. The story is kind of like a theory that tries to make a probable explanation for all the abduction and flying saucer stories, crop circles or ancient astronauts we often hear about, a very entertaining way how all the mystery could be connected. And its told by using the history of several generations of three families and the consequences the aliens have on them. Some reviewers wrote to find Taken boring, and I can understand that from the view of someone looking just for action and effects. Taken is so much more then that.

This is a long series, but it kept my interest throughout. There are a few detours from the main plot, but it all contributes. I've seen miniseries that start out really well, then fizzle out at the end, "the Stand" being a good example. This series is rewarding to watch. The acting is good and the plot is consistent. It is not like the X-Files (which I do like), where the explanations never make sense. Taken takes us to a logical conclusion.

I thought that this mini series was great! The acting was terrific and the suspense was practically killing me. I felt a mix of emotions for all of the different generations of characters. The different storyline arcs are riveting. By today's standards, the special effects are a little lacking, but that could be easily fixed because I think it's time to give reboot this mini series.

As a Pastafarian, it would be great to see more pasta in the movie..

The series spans a bracket of 40-50 years staring from the end of warld war II. The storyline is in general quite interesting. I've particularly liked the connections with historical facts, such as the succession if United States presidents and the cold war including the Cuba missile crisis. The plot is follows the entangled lifes of three American families, starting from the great-grandfathers all the way down to the grandchildren. I found the jumps from one decade to the other quite interesting also from a style point of view. Unfortunately, this approach only last for the first half of the series, with the second part focused around the life of what can be considered the real main character of the series as a kid (and her mother). I definitely liked more the approach taken in the first half.

On the style, the plot evolution focus present in the first half of the series leaves room to the more action-focused style in the second half of the episodes. Again on the style, the first prize goes to the voice-over which opens and closes most of the episodes. The praise goes to the content of the narrating voice as well as to the sound of it, pleasantly soft.

On the downside, I didn't like the excess of Hollywood style action present in the second half of the series. I found it totally fleshy, poorly made, and most of all unnecessary as this series is centered around the Sci-fi plot rather than the action of the characters.

One of the best series I've seen in years! Me and my wife saw all 10 episodes in two days (just intended to check out one)! That hasn't happened in a very long time..

The story just gets hold of you and sometimes gives you goosebumps since it's so good!

My favorite parts are the early episodes but the series really changes, or evolves might be better explanation, so it still manages to glue you to the TV..

I'm a sci-fi fan that loves a good story but doesn't bother on technical or historical details (aka Trekkie's) so this series was top-score for me!

/jon

I stuck it out for ten summer Mondays as CBC plodded through this would be epic. It had its moments but the story could have been told much better in two or three hours rather than ten. There is too much obvious padding, especially in the disappointing last episode. (And they all live happily ever after... Jeez!) There are decent but unmemorable performances and the special effects are both predictable and unimpressive.

Gee... Wonder what I'll do next Monday night...

I first saw taken when it aired on the scifi-channel back in 2002. I was on holiday in NY at the time. From the first episode I was hooked. I could only watch 5 of the 10 episodes at the time, because my holiday was over. I was so depressed when I got home. Then, last year it aired on the BBC and I watched the series for the second time. I recently bought the DVD.Taken tells the story of 4 generations of 3 family's that all have something to do with alien-abductions.But is is not just about that, it also lets you in to their lives and lets you look at how they cope with things.I think the script is just brilliant an the actors are very well-casted. Everyone, go and see the series, I'm sure you'll love it!

I watched this when it first came out.. Just watched the whole thing again.. I was surprised at how well, it stood up to the passage of time.. I don't know how much Spielberg actually had a hand in this, but it does carry much of his expert film making. Some of it, especially the early episodes, remind us original 'baby boomers' of the 'wonder ness' of those years.

The fact it cover cult-decades, and several generations, it is extremely well put together. There is not a lot of special effects. But just enough at the right moments. It's more a human nature series.

While we have gotten used to super fancy CGI effects, and razor fast, radical edits. I appreciated the pace of this very much.. Yes, some episodes are better than others. I didn't pay attention to who directed which episodes, but I did notice some difference. I think for the scope it covered, it is a well executes series.

I was very surprised when I started reading the comments for this feature. Lots of people said it was crap, but apparently people who actually gave it a number thought it to not be so bad at all. I enjoyed this miniseries and was eagerly awaiting the next episode except for Acid Tests. That wasn't such a good episode. I recommend you watch next time they run it.

Probably the best Sci-fi mini series I'll ever see in my vast and extremely varied knowledge of great TV/film genre

It was not just 10 episodes, but was 10 days of my life that went in love, wonder, enthusiasm, excitement and thinking about it and its subject.

Technically, it was close to perfect. Good direction, nice acting, speedy and lovable script and very nice cinematography. But not just technically, the movie also wins heavy points in everything it was. Let's start with the story first. It is about three generations of three families entangled in some secret mission of aliens and a quest to find what that mission was. They were Crawford's, Keys and Clarke's. Clarke's were associated with aliens. They were the breed of it. Keys were 'Taken' by the aliens. And, Crawford's wanted to solve the mystery. They wanted the answers. But, answers are never simple; neither is the way of finding them. Answers are not always good too. Many of the times when we get them, we regret the moment we asked the question. But, nevertheless, we ask them, because, and so was said by Allie in the movie too, questions drive us. They make us go forward, and they make us move on. But, even though these questions are so much important to us, getting the final truth not just destroy us, but also ruin many thing around us. Some answers are not possible to get, some answers cannot be comprehended. And, so, we should know when to let it go. One more thing, which is very important, is to understand that in our quest of knowing the truth, we should not forget the difference between right and wrong. Because, that's what make us different, and that is what makes us special.

Movies have always been a source of knowledge to me. I have learned and have been inspired from a lot of movie. The same is the case with this Mini TV series. It made me learn things, and understand them. The best part, after its story, was the cast. It's not natural for me to love almost all the casts and characters of a movie. But, it's the case with Taken. Everyone was brilliant in their role. I especially very much liked whole of the 'Keys' family, and John, and Own Crawford, and Doctor Chet, and finally, our sweetest Allie. Dakota Fanning, who played the part of Allie, was not just cute and charming, but also brave, and real in that role. It wouldn't be wrong to say that I was waiting for her from the very first episode. The characters that I didn't like were that of Lisa Crawford and The General. I hated that Bastard when he tried to show off his morality in the end, after obviously ruining himself. Lisa was a bitch. I wanted her to die, but, well, she too lived.

I didn't like the end of the movie. I wanted it to end on a happy note. Yeah, it made logic and sense, but still, I expected something else. Again, if that were to happen, then what was the point to wait for so long? It could have occurred a long time before. All the hard work that Lisa, Charlie and Tom did somehow went into Futile.

But, apart from that, I loved it all along. And, this one, I will add into the list of my All Time favorite TV series.

This is possibly the best mini-series of all time, with excellent acting, killer plotlines, and storylines that get you hooked immediately. I was unsure about this at the beginning, but I havent missed one yet! This isn't about aliens, but more about people, and their natures. Trust me on this one, when it comes on DVD, im going to be first on line.

A decently intriguing storyline that goes on for twice as long as it really should have. The story moves very, very slowly, and it got very hard for me to keep track of all the connections between the characters. The first and second weeks felt almost like completely different movies, the first week being a great movie about how aliens have landed and penetrated our society, despite attempts from the government to deal with them. The second slowed down the pace of time advancement, and dealt more with what the alien's presence on Earth put forth by the first week's programs culminated in. Taken as separate movies, they probably work better than considered to be part of a whole, somehow. We don't need to second to have the first make sense. It could have just been wrapped up in one episode or something (my mother assumed it was going to be - she didn't know it was only halfway done). The second week didn't need the huge buildup of the first week to work at all.

As to the plot and the characters, they were decent but not spectacular. I love Matt Frewer in general, so while his character's appearance is a bit...odd, I loved it anyway.

Overall, the 40 hours of this series is overly long, and somewhat incongruous.

6/10

I really enjoyed this miniseries. I had to tape it due to RL commitments while it was being shown, but managed to watch all of it over four days of vacation. It looked like it may be open to a sequel (I hope). I think this is the best miniseries I have seen in a long time. I hope SCIFI does more of this soon.

The show is loosely based alien abduction and UFO sightings. But it's more like a drama with magic and fantasy. There's no sci-fi component to it, the aliens do everything by magic, not science. You rarely get the chance to wonder "how does that work?", because it's all magic. Definitely nothing to do with science.

And the aliens can do everything from teleportation to time dilation and faster than light travel, yet they can't figure out emotion? We can genetically engineer animals better today than those stupid aliens ever could. It's comical, NOT SCI FI.

I watched this entire series, hoping beyond hope that it would get better, but it never did. The "evil" govt. agents were so hilariously awful that it was a form of entertainment in itself. Joel Gretsch as Owen Crawford had so many "bwahahaha!" moments I had to remind myself that this was not a comedy. Heather Donahue, looking perpetually constipated, compounded the whole MST3K experience. Top that off with the annoying Dakota Fanning's "deep" observations in that scratchy little waif-whisper of hers and Max Headroom's bizarre-for-the-sake-of-bizarreness scientist, and you have prime MST material. Since Mike and the bots weren't there, I did my best. But it wasn't enough to make the pain stay away.

A wretched waste of film, time, and money. I don't know if this was an attempt to take Close Encounters of the Third Kind to an expanded level, but Steve, you failed MISERABLY. All of your last half dozen or so flicks have stunk. You're getting too serious and preachy. Give me Indy 4 and I'll watch it gladly.

1/10

To be fair, however, I thought Desmond Harrington was the sole redeeming feature of this and afterwards I realized he was the same guy in Luc Besson's The Messenger. He impressed me there as well. The only thing is, The Messenger is an excellent movie for the most part whereas this one just sucked on alien toast.