Taken

Yes we all know Hollywood has no originality and this tiresome telly spin off, of the Taken film franchise, proves this, yet again.

In spite of Clive Standen's appearance in the lead role fresh from the fantastic series Vikings, this series is wall to wall bland and somewhat hypocritical.

Its the same formula adopted in Taken the films with a couple of trivial twists and lots of US self justification and victim playing. All of which is more than a bit rich, in light of the US administrations often unsavory actions on the world stage.

Regrettably, the quality actors are constrained by the overriding monotony of this series. Its not their fault this sucks as much as it does.

Four out of ten from me.

First episode was good but then things started to fall about with the dialogue and endless slip ups by the crack team. I began to feel sorry for Clive and Jennifer being associated with the show. It's a poor mans Blacklist.

I was kinda eager to check out how Brian got where he is in the movie. BUT That's not what the show is about at all, or the producers/writers never heard about ANACHRONISM... The deceptive title is mostly marketing bullshit to keep banking on a license probably dead without any future Liam's participation.

That being said, it is a pretty decent show so far (ep5). To be recommended to those who like spy/action shows.

After 3 iterations of the film "Taken", I wondered if this prequel to the franchise was exhausted. I was pleasantly surprised, but not quite aroused.

Clive Standen portrays a younger Bryan Mills well, tho I'm tired of the 3-day-beard look amongst anti-terrorist protagonists. His skills are quietly honed for espionage and his character flaws should enhance the role...much like Tom Keen in "The Blacklist".

Similar to Harold Cooper in "The Blacklist", Jennifer Beals appears to be heading central operations with a cold and direct manner that I hope breaks.

I enjoyed this enough to put it in my queue.

You really gotta give it a chance Clive does a magnificent job and there's a lot of twists and turns throughout the seasons