10 Movies Like "Taken"
Taken is an English-language French action-thriller movie starring Liam Neeson, Maggie Grace and Famke Janssen. The story revolves around an ex-operative who sets off to chase down his daughter who has been kidnapped by a sexual slavery gang in France. Directed by Pierre Morel, the movie grossed more than 226 million dollars after its release on January 30, 2009. It is the first installment in the Taken film series, followed by Taken 2 in October 2012, and Taken 3 in January 2015.
The following are movies like “Taken” that will bring you into the world of mobsters where individuals have to choose between dying and fighting back.
1. John Wick
Release Date: October 24, 2014
Directors: Chad Stahelski, David Leitch
Cast: Keanu Reeves, Michael Nyqvist, Alfie Allen
John Wick is your typical mob assassin. When he falls in love and gets married, he quits his job. But after 5 years, his wife dies. Before she passes away, she fixes for a dog to be brought to him after her death. This is to make sure that he will never be alone. But a group of thieves breaks in and kills his dog. That’s when John Wick sets about hunting down whoever slays his dog, and in the process discovers that the leader of the gangster is none other than the son of his boss – the same boss who has always been good to him.
2. Run All Night
Release Date: March 13, 2015
Director: Jaume Collet-Serra
Cast: Liam Neeson, Ed Harris, Joel Kinnaman
Mobster and professional hit-man Jimmy Conlon, also called ‘The Gravedigger,’ is best friends with his boss, Sean Maguire. However, their long-time friendship has ended when Jimmy's son, Michael, is believed by Maguire to be the one responsible for the death of his own son. Now, all Maguire wants is to kill Michael. To protect his son no matter what it takes, Jimmy goes up against his best friend. For them to survive, the father and son must stay away from contract hit-men, corrupt authorities, and the man who used to be Jimmy’s best buddy.
3. A Walk Among The Tombstones
Release Date: September 19, 2014
Director: Scott Frank
Cast: Liam Neeson, Dan Stevens, David Harbour
Former cop Matt Scudder now works as a private investigator. When he is asked by a drug kingpin to track down his wife’s killers, Matt refuses, having a first notion that the gangsters have killed her even after he has paid them. But the man is insistent. When he tells how his wife has been killed, Matt accepts the job. Upon doing initial investigations, Matt has had speculations that the killers have done this many times and that all of their victims are connected to a drug lord. Thinking that the case wouldn’t go anywhere, Matt decides to quit. But when another girl is held captive by the same group, he sets off to finally end these men’s evilness.
4. The Grey
Release Date: January 27, 2012
Director: Joe Carnahan
Cast: Liam Neeson, Dermot Mulroney, Frank Grillo
In Alaska, a plane comes across a storm and crashes, leaving a team of six oil workers and a huntsman in the wilderness. The huntsman is John Ottway, who assumes the leadership of the group since he has been trained to kill wild animals. Upon learning that they are surrounded by wolves, Ottway leads the group into the woods to protect themselves. But even before they reach the woods, they encounter a pack of these carnivorous mammals in the middle of a wide, snowy wasteland. Now, their survival is left on Ottway’s shoulders.
5. The Equalizer
Release Date: September 26, 2014
Director: Antoine Fuqua
Cast: Denzel Washington, Marton Csokas, Chloë Grace Moretz
McCall is convinced that he has been successful at leaving his mysterious past behind him to fully dedicate himself to starting a new, peaceful life. However, the quiet life he has planned and long waited for threatens to end when he meets Teri, a girl who is being controlled by ultra-violent Russian mobsters. Because McCall cannot leave the girl alone, he knows he must help her. Using the skills from his past, that has served him well as a savior of the helpless, McCall gets up from his comfort zone to once again fight for justice and re-live his being ‘The Equalizer’.
6. The Man From Nowhere
Release Date: August 5, 2010
Directors: Jeong-beom Lee
Cast: Bin Won, Sae-ron Kim, Tae-hoon Kim
Quiet pawnshop owner, Cha Tae-shik, is a former special agent. He has almost no connection to the rest of the world if it’s not for So-mi, a little girl from his neighborhood. So-mi’s mother, Hyo-jeong, is smuggling drugs from a drug trafficking gang and delivers the products to Tae-shik without his knowledge. When the drug mule finds out what Hyo-jeong is doing, they take her and So-mi away. The gang would only release them if Tae-shik shows up to the leader of the drug ring. But the traffickers soon kill Hyo-jeong, and Tae-shik realizes that he must save the life of his little friend, even if it costs his own life.
7. Olympus Has Fallen
Release Date: March 22, 2013
Director: Antoine Fuqua
Cast: Gerard Butler, Aaron Eckhart, Morgan Freeman
Mike Banning is a former Presidential Secret Service agent at the White House, which has a Secret Service Code Olympus. When a terrorist group invades the Olympus and the President is held captive by the terrorist leader, the ex-presidential guard in disgrace finds himself stuck inside the presidential house. The national security team struggles to respond, but they are forced to depend on Banning's interior knowledge in order to save the President, prevent an even more disastrous fate, and keep the Olympus from falling.
8. Colombiana
Release Date: August 26, 2011
Director: Olivier Megaton
Cast: Zoe Saldana, Michael Vartan, Callum Blue
She is a young woman who witnesses her parent’s murder as a child. Because of this bitter past, she grows up to become a cold, uncaring, heartless assassin. By day, she works as a hired gunman for a relative. However, she spends most of her personal time getting involved with self-imposed, justice-seeking, brutal murders, hoping that her secret hobby will eventually lead her to finding her ultimate target: the gangster who has killed her parents.
9. Unknown
Release Date: February 18, 2011
Director: Jaume Collet-Serra
Cast: Liam Neeson, Diane Kruger, January Jones
A biochemist, together with his wife, travels to Berlin for a research conference. But a car accident happens, and the biochemist has fallen into a coma. After four days, he wakes up, still with memory gaps, but without anything to identify who he is. He goes to the hotel he and his wife rent when they come to Berlin. But much to his surprise, his wife doesn’t recognize him. Worst, another man is with her, claiming his identity. With the help of a nurse, a former Stasi agent, a taxi driver, and a fellow scientist, he will try to prove who he really is.
10. 3 Days to Kill
Release Date: February 21, 2014
Director: McG
Cast: Kevin Costner, Hailee Steinfeld, Connie Nielsen
Because of the dangers of his job, a clever international spy has chosen to stay away from his wife and daughter for ten years. But now, he is decided to finally quit his high-stakes life in order to start anew and create a closer relationship with his family. But before he’ll be allowed to do that, he must first complete one last assignment: to track down the world's most cruel terrorist. Will he be able to finish the assignment with flying colors, while looking after his teenage daughter at the same time?