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Amazon.co.uk Review
Steven Spielberg's alien abduction opus Taken is what happens when you cross-breed Close Encounters of the Third Kind with The Waltons. Obviously flushed with the success of the TV mini-series Band of Brothers, Spielberg's Dreamworks studio has created an equally epic 10-part story chronicling 50 years of habitual abduction over several generations of three American families.
Beginning with the most notorious alien cover-up in US history, the 1947 "crash" at Roswell, New Mexico, Taken introduces the "Greys" and the families they routinely abduct, probe and, in a couple of cases, impregnate over the course of the ten hour-and-a-half-long episodes. The three families are: the Keys, from which first Russell, then his son Jessie, then grandson Danny, are all abducted; the Clarkes, who are descended from a liaison between lonely put-upon housewife Sally Clarke and one of the Roswell crash survivors; and the Crawfords, the ruthless G-men who are committed to uncovering the purpose behind the alien visitations at any cost.
But even though the Greys' actions are at best ambiguous and at worst hostile, Taken is basically a soap opera, lacking the sinister undercurrent of either Dark Skies or The X-Files despite its science-fiction trappings. Nevertheless, this is an engaging series which has decent performances--most notably Joel Gretsch as psychotic Owen Crawford--special effects and an engaging enough storyline to make it entertaining, if somewhat disposable, TV. --Kristen Bowditch
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
12 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
I first saw this on the BBC a couple of years ago. I'm been thinking of getting the Taken DVD boxset for a while but decided to wait until the price came down to something I could manage! Thanks for Amazon, this series is now a steal. You'll get the story from other reviews and as someone else pointed out Dakota Fanning (who also starred in Speilberg's War Of The Worlds) is excellent throughout.
You really won't believe how quickly 12 hours of television can be. Brilliant.
11 of 13 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
Well, we've finally finished watching Taken, which is no mean feat after 10 one and a half hour episodes. On the whole, this series has a lot to recommend it, with strong work in most areas, it's usually engaging and mostly quite exciting. There were a couple of distinct downsides to the concept however which really ought to be noted, which I'll try to do without spoiling the plot at all. The Steven Spielberg influence is fairly apparent, each episode has a blockbuster resonance, but it does occasionally suffer from having slow periods where an awful lot of time elapses without too much happening, something that's especially obvious in the later episodes; I felt, in fact that the series started well; some of the earlier characters were excellent, but with this being set over several decades, the later replacements were for me a whole lot weaker, both as characters, and as actors. I started to notice a slightly stilted edge to some of the interactions later on, with conversations appearing unnatural and awkward. This aside, in my opinion, the last episode almost ruined the whole project, being deeply cheesy and far too sentimental, although I guess for some, they don't have a natural tendency to cringe horribly at monstrously americanised 'let's love everybody' nonsense. I also thought that one or two of the characters acted almost totally out of character in the final instalment, it seemed a shame to spend so much effort in building a persona throughout several hours of filming only to completely undermine that impression at the final hurdle. I only say this because in fact, if the series had ended more in the spirit with which it had begun, then I feel that the effort would have been almost flawless, since for the most part, it was gripping, thought-provoking and well made and despite its later flaws, is still recommended as a worthwhile investment.
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
OK, the story is as far-fetched as the proverbial bucket of sugar from China, and it's astonishingly melodramatic, with the positively angelic Ally on the one hand, and on the other the Crawfords, a family of utter villains so wicked and self-seeking that you find it hard to resist the tendency to boo them every time they appear, just like in a British pantomime. But it's so beautifully done, with such astonishing attention to detail, that it draws you in, in spite of the fact that you know it's a load of codswallop. Horrifyingly, you find yourself WANTING to believe that there's something to it. I watched it first on one of the German channels, and just had to have the English language DVDs.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
bit slow
my hubby loves scifi and with a birthday looming and him all out of dvds i searched amazon. upon finding taken i checked the reviews and they seemed favourable so i took a chance. Read more
Published 13 days ago by C. Fairgrieve
fantastic
I watched this on the sci-fi channel and had t buy it. it grips you from beggining to end. I only wish
they did a second one. Great effects and storyline
they did a second one. Great effects and storyline
Published 6 months ago by lorraine paterson
Taken
Brilliant series x good quality purchase even though second hand DVD in good condition x case though used looks ok x
Published 6 months ago by mercurysbest
Will we be "Taken" Again? ....I hope so !
I discovered this boxed set while visiting a friend in France....(It was called "Disparition" for the French market). Read more
Published 10 months ago by andy volper
wow!
1 word amazing, this mini series keeps u glued to the edge of your seat glad i have this in my dvd collection.
Published 12 months ago by michael
Fantastic mini-series
Taken is one of the best TV mini-series I have ever watched, I think it was first shown on TV in about 2002/2003, and when I randomly found it while browsing Amazon a few months... Read more
Published 13 months ago by Another Weasley
Accurate...
I was rivetted to this TV series after my own experiences and either the writers were in on my life or they researched/experienced their subject very well. Read more
Published 14 months ago by D Deacon
Flagging up needed
I can not fully review the item purchase as I could not view it...I made the mistake of not taking into account about the Regional markings and this DVD was Region 1, USA only. Read more
Published 15 months ago by D.art
Taken - Box DVD
I remembered watching this series on TV a number of years ago and enjoying it. So I purchased this box set of the series as a gift for my husband. Read more
Published 17 months ago by M&D
well made and well played by the actors
Good film, although you need to be aware of its light polarity clinging and tendency to romanticize the aliens as the smarter, better and more developed kind than the human. Read more
Published on 28 Jan 2010 by Mr. D. J. Shipley
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