2009 In Restrospect - Sleeper Hit Of The Year

Each year, there would be at least one or two movies that would defy the odds and box office predictions, and would rake up a storm in the collections that no one could figure how and why it happened. In 2008, "Twilight" began to make its mark and did their producers more than justice when they broke all silence and appeared as the sleeper hit of the year with a box office collection of more than USD350 million worldwide. In 2007, the cleverly written "Juno" did the same albeit with a slightly lower box office takings.

Last year, an action thriller film with very little well known stars took the liberty of raking in more than USD 145 million in box office collections. Starring Liam Neeson, Famke Janssen, and Maggie Grace, the movie "Taken" is based on a script by Luc Besson and Robert Mark Kamen and was directed by Pierre Morel.

Neeson plays a no-nonsense, former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) paramilitary operative who sets about tracking down his teenage daughter after she is kidnapped by slave traders while she was traveling in France.

The movie initially started at a slow pace. Only when Neeson found out about his daughter's misfortunes that the movie began to pick up the pace. And from one sequence to another, the movie's gripping and realistic actions kept the adrenaline flowing non-stop, thanks to a good direction and strong editing.

If anything, I would remember this movie for one particular scene when Neeson was talking to the phone with one of the kidnappers, and he said (with much grit and conviction) "I don't know who you are. I don't know what you want. If you are looking for a ransom, I can tell you I don't have the money. But what I do have is a very particular set of skills; skills I have acquired over a very long career. Skills that make me a nightmare for people like you. If you let my daughter go now, that'll be the end of it. I will not look for you, I will not pursue you. But if you don't, I will look for you, I will find you, and I will kill you."

That in itself is worth sitting through the rest of the movie even if your bladder is bloatedly full.