Maybe a better title would be TRICKED.
Or FOOLED.
Liam Neeson starred in three films in the TAKEN franchise.
He skipped a TV installment.
Everyone should have skipped it.
In October of 2002, when Matt Damon hosted SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE, there was a skit entitled "Hannibal Goes To College." The premise was Hannibal Lecter in college, we meet him before he became the adult we all know.
What was a joke -- a good one -- has become a sad reality.
And it's never been sadder than with NBC's TAKEN.
Do we really need to see Liam Neeson's character as a man-child played by a really ugly guy?
This show is an embarrassment in every way possible.
Jennifer Beals is in the show.
Why?
This is a TV show that endorses torture and extraordinary rendition and all the things Jennifer Beals is supposed to be against.
Is really worth selling her soul to star in such a crappy show that paints the CIA in such an approving light?
She really ought to be ashamed of herself and that's saying a lot considering this is the actress who became famous for playing a dancer in FLASHDANCE -- despite the fact that her dancing was dubbed.
She was beautiful and she's still beautiful.
It's just a shame that she hasn't grown as an artist or a person all these years later.
Curious 'acting choices' like discussing strategy while putting her hair up in a meeting?
Maybe even she's having difficulty selling this crap?
We can hope.
The crap is led by Clive Standen who may be the most offensive thing of all.
An ugly man at 35 is given the lead in this show.
Why?
And they didn't even try to make him over.
Make no mistake, he has no sex appeal.
He has the kind of boxy face that screams "supporting actor."
He also has a boxy body.
Even wearing just a towel, there's nothing at all interesting about him.
But he gets cast in a lead role?
The 35-year-old plays the character like a 11-year-old.
He's an embarrassment playing a man because he seems like such an unsure and insecure boy.
Though the events in the TAKEN films are supposed to be off in the future, he's already supposed to have been a Green Beret but you don't buy that he could even earn a Bobcat Badge in the Cub Scouts.
Jennifer is gorgeous, probably more so today than back in the 80s.
And you damn well better believe that she wouldn't be cast in any thing if she wasn't.
Clive Standen is just more proof that the worst actor in the ugliest body can still land a lead part but a woman has to be gorgeous and talented to even get a supporting role in a piece of a trash TV show.
