When I saw the entire Spielberg-produced series, on 5 DVDs (plus one full of extras), on special offer on amazon.co.uk, I thought it would be a great opportunity to obtain many hours of entertainment for a price below renting out the discs individually. Well, I got discs - entertained, I wasn't.
"Taken" is the story of three families over three generations. One is a family of abduction victims. The second is a family interbreeding with aliens. The third is a family of secretive government agents trying to uncover the mysteries of the aliens while ruthlessly making sure their secrets are kept.
Of the ten films, only one got any emotion out of me at all, only one was creepy: "Acid Tests". It was the only film that showed some skill in building up and sustaining suspense, and even drama. All other films suffer from either showing you the things that are meant to be scary, or trying to be too sappy. In other words, they reveal too much to remain creepy, or they have too many whiny, crying characters to really evoke any empathy.
The most critical flaw of the entire thing is the narration. Having a little girl narrate may have seemed like a good idea originally, but in the end, it's neither alienating enough, nor do the pretentious, poorly written lines make her appear wise beyond her years. All it is is cringeworthy. And when the girl finally appears, most of her dialogue is poorly written ("I am just a little kid!" - few kids call themselves little!).
The first 6 episodes lack a connecting story-arc (except Acid Tests), and so you're never quite sure when it's supposed to end. Each episode has at least 3-4 different scenes that feel as if they should be the last one, some have even more endings. It's a sign of bad writing. And the final 4 episodes - well, they drag on forever, outstaying their welcome to an unprecedented extent. In fact, the final episode itself is quite redundant and could have been told in less than 10 minutes - instead, we get the full 80 minutes of sap without plot.
"Taken" is poorly written, badly directed, unprecedented rubbish. I would not recommend it to anyone, not even at the price I paid. Let's hope I get some of my money back on ebay.
"Taken" is the story of three families over three generations. One is a family of abduction victims. The second is a family interbreeding with aliens. The third is a family of secretive government agents trying to uncover the mysteries of the aliens while ruthlessly making sure their secrets are kept.
Of the ten films, only one got any emotion out of me at all, only one was creepy: "Acid Tests". It was the only film that showed some skill in building up and sustaining suspense, and even drama. All other films suffer from either showing you the things that are meant to be scary, or trying to be too sappy. In other words, they reveal too much to remain creepy, or they have too many whiny, crying characters to really evoke any empathy.
The most critical flaw of the entire thing is the narration. Having a little girl narrate may have seemed like a good idea originally, but in the end, it's neither alienating enough, nor do the pretentious, poorly written lines make her appear wise beyond her years. All it is is cringeworthy. And when the girl finally appears, most of her dialogue is poorly written ("I am just a little kid!" - few kids call themselves little!).
The first 6 episodes lack a connecting story-arc (except Acid Tests), and so you're never quite sure when it's supposed to end. Each episode has at least 3-4 different scenes that feel as if they should be the last one, some have even more endings. It's a sign of bad writing. And the final 4 episodes - well, they drag on forever, outstaying their welcome to an unprecedented extent. In fact, the final episode itself is quite redundant and could have been told in less than 10 minutes - instead, we get the full 80 minutes of sap without plot.
"Taken" is poorly written, badly directed, unprecedented rubbish. I would not recommend it to anyone, not even at the price I paid. Let's hope I get some of my money back on ebay.