Taken

Yesterday I watched Taken for the first time. I was really excited because I have been hearing about this movie for months. I told my roommate that I was really excited to see it, because I've only heard good things about it.

As the movie started, I found myself really enjoying it. The plot was interesting and suspenseful, and it really made you think about your relationships and how you might act in certain situations. However, at a certain point in the movie, I realized that there was much more violence than I expected.

First Brian killed about 10 people inside of the Rue de Paradis house, each in a different and vulgar way (sticking a knife up one's throat, shooting another one with the hand of an already dead man, etc.). Later, a man was shown being quesitoned by Brian, and Brian tortured him by submitting him to the electric chair. This was shown onscreen several times. As the victim pleads for mercy because he honestly does not know the answer to Brian's question, Brian says "I believe you.... but it's still not going to save you" and turns the electric chair back on and leaves the room. In addition, Brian shot at a coworker's wife, in a situaiton where the wife had been nothing but kind to him, and she had nothing to do with the issue at hand.

Frankly, all this violence bothered me. I felt like there were so many instances where the movie seemed to be too graphic. In addition, I realized that Brian was not the hero that I once thought he was. Brian was cruel and showed unusual forms of punishment. Not only did he kill people in inhumane ways and injure those who did not deserve it, but I feel that these gross displays of violence were glamorized. Brian is the hero of the movie, so every time he brutally murders one of the "bad guys", his image as a hero increases. He shows no remorse.

All in all, I did enjoy the plot and premise of the movie, but the violence just seemed to overshadow everything- I thought it was too much. Did anyone else get that impression from the movie?