What I think is wrong with Taken's ending ++spoilers++

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by MrCix on September 24, 2009 at 1:02pm

I agree.. I would have liked the ending better if it reflected how what went on effected everyone.. not just her being happy at the end for the singing lessons. I'd rather it end with him going back to work with his buddies and telling his friends about how she's getting better slowly. About how she's going to therapy while she's taking singing lessons from that chick they saved.And it ended with an action sequence that shows him rescuing somebody else.

o_o.. I just want a sequel.. but not like Die Hard where they keep centering it around his family. Maybe something showing him doing it for the money at first, but later doing it for something more honorable.

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Gojira Boy on September 24, 2009 at 3:27pm

You bring up a valid point Dave! I'd have to agree with you finding her on the boat would have made a more logical ending. My beef with the movie *minor one* is that Liam runs around the movie in Paris posing as a French policeman, that doesn't talk to the thugs in French! I know this is for US consumption, but come on! The director is French, Luc Besson is French, it's set in France!?? *I feel the same way here as with the Ringo Lam / Van Damme actioner "Maximum Risk" .. I mean Van Damme is a cop in Nice, France talking with Jean-Hugues Anglade in English throughout the movie!!??
Jean is French and Van Damme is Belgian *So I KNOW he can speak French*.. I mean check out the thrashing he gives Steven Seagal on a French Talk show see it at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-U5L0QPkrE

I just feel letting actors speak the language of the country they are in just adds a SHOT of realism, I mean look at the BOURNE movies when Jason speaks Deutsch or Russki it conveys his mastery of blending in. *sorry venting a lil*
Enjoy your comment... btw my favorite Kurosawa film is "Ikiru"

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Kayn Kalmbach on September 24, 2009 at 3:29pm

idk about the whole britney spears ending u wanted but i would have liked a darker ending ... how about how she has to go to rehab cuz u dont just hop of drugs like that and she probably freaks out in rehab and shit idk but im with u ... the movie was still full price for me tho

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by foshizzle on September 24, 2009 at 5:09pm

I agree. i loved that movie too. But i think it should have ended with her not being found or something a bit darker to give it a bit more of an edge. Also i hated how Liam Neeson's character seemed to not give a shit about any of the other girls. They had it just as bad or worse than his daughter.

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Stanley Kubrick on September 24, 2009 at 5:13pm

Yes the ending was a tad crass, but would it have made you feel any better if you saw her doing cold turkey after the involuntary drugs intake and the subsequent depression due to her kindapping ordeal and the death of her travel buddy ?!?!!?!?

There should be a next film.

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by The Eyeball Kid on September 24, 2009 at 5:44pm

the ending would have been more realistic if you just saw her shaving all her hair off and going "I'm a pretty girl... PRETTY!!!".

Realistic? No. Hilarious? Definitely.


why oh why could it not have just ended with him finding her on that boat IS THAT NOT A HIGH ENOUGH NOTE FOR EVERYBODY!!!

You don't end a movie on the climax. There has to be a falling action and denouement. Otherwise it feels like just sort of stops (case in point: Tim Burton's Sweeney Todd).


I think you're reacting exactly the way you're intended to. It does come across as "too happy," but that's part of the point. It's the Blue Velvet ending, except its execution is much more nuanced. (For fans of German theater, think Threepenny Opera.)

There are two scenes that follow her release: the scene at the airport and the scene at the singers house. The airport scene starts off, happily enough, with the family exchanging thank yous and hugs and so on. The time comes to leave, and they offer to drive Neeson home. He declines, and we stay with him as he watches the car pull away and is left alone.

There's an ominous undercurrent to this shot. They look like two ghostly heads separated by chasm of darkness. As the car pulls away, her hand reaches up and touches the glass, lingering in the frame for a split second longer. Once again, she's confined to a small space as she's being taken away from her father.


Cut to a ringing doorbell. Neeson surprises her with the singing lessons. The daughter is gleeful; Neeson and the singer bask vicariously in her joy. They step into the house.

The door shuts.

THUD. END OF FILM.


When I first saw Taken, that closing shot would not leave me alone. Having the door slammed in my face was a more visceral experience than all of the film's action snatches put together. It was such an odd way to end the film, and the more I thought about it, the more I realized why.

Once again, the scene moves into a closed space. The shutting door gives the sense that they're being locked in (consider the final images of The Godfather or Saw). I only just noticed how much darker it is within the house.

The house belongs to the singer, and the daughter wants to follow in her footsteps. This is her first entry into the singer's world. Think back to what that world is like. Neeson only knows the singer because a fan tried to stab her. Her initial advice to Neeson regarding how to start her singing career, "Don't." She's living in a world of Hell right now, and the daughter just stepped into that world.

It's only in comparison to the rest of the film that this ending can be considered "happy."

Incidentally, everyone who hasn't seen The Searchers should watch it as soon as possible.

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Doctor Lightning on September 25, 2009 at 12:42pm

(consider the final images of The Godfather or Saw).

I'd rather not Saw... how about, for that matter, the final shot of Goodfellas?

"I'm an average nobody. I get to live the rest of my life like a shnook"
(Homage shot of The Great Train Robbery with Joe Pesci shooting at camera)
(Henry Hill closes door to that idealized world)

Nothing can top that for me, though Godfather and now Taken are two other great examples of the close-the-door shot at the end of something (I feel like I may have taken this to light in my first short Infidelio where the final shot is someone taking out the garbage and staying on the garbage can... or maybe not)

Oh yeah, and the Searchers. Duh.

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by FaceTheWheel on September 24, 2009 at 6:37pm

Well they didn't want to give away the next movie, "Taken 2: Therapy"

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by 28daveslater on September 24, 2009 at 9:55pm

Hell yer getta see sigmund freud kickin ass like "aaaaah I see you are suffering from vot I call an oedipus complex... KEEEEEYAAAAA!!!" then he kills a load of Russian drug dealers or somin.

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by FaceTheWheel on September 24, 2009 at 10:12pm

Sure.

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by MDS on September 24, 2009 at 6:45pm

To hell with the girl, just give me more Liam kicking ass all over Europe, and I will be happy.

Seriously, there is of course going to be required counseling when she gets HOME. But I think that was the main thing first, get her HOME. After that, we'll deal with the trauma that happened.

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Brock on September 25, 2009 at 1:18pm

The daughter has rich parents, I'm sure they could afford some therapy sessions.

Not to mention she was drugged half the time so she probably would remember anything till her dad rescued her and she snaps out of her drugged state.

▶ Reply to This

• First
• Previous
• Next
• Last