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Steven Spielberg Presents Taken
 
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Steven Spielberg Presents Taken

Dakota Fanning (Actor), Matt Frewer (Actor) | Format: DVD
3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (67 customer reviews)

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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 miniseries 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 U.S. 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 90-minute 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.

It's this question that forms the main thread of the story: but even though the Greys' actions are at best ambiguous and at worst hostile, the viewer can't help feeling that after all this systematic abuse of their human test subjects the aliens will in the end present them with a cure for cancer. In fact, Taken is Spielberg at his most touchy-feely: for all its science fiction trappings it's basically a soap opera, lacking the sinister undercurrent of either Dark Skies or The X-Files. Nevertheless, it's an engaging series with decent performances--most notably Joel Gretsch as psychotic Owen Crawford--good special effects, and an engaging enough storyline to make it entertaining, if somewhat disposable, TV. --Kristen Bowditch

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Customer Reviews

Most helpful customer reviews
I long for Max Headroom April 19 2004
Format:DVD
I have something in common with alien abductees: `lost time.' Twenty hours of lost time, to be exact. Counting the four hours of self-flagellation for sitting through this painfully boring mini-series amounts to a whole day of my life which would have been better spent watching Close Encounters of the Third Kind twelve times. Obviously, most of the casting budget must have been spent on Dakota Fanning. With the exception of her performance, the acting was one step below a Lifetime made-for-tv melodrama. Heather Donahue was irritating enough for two hours in the Blair Witch Project but after ten hours of her self-conscious twitching and creepy bug-eyes, I was thrilled when it appeared the aliens took her. Alas, they gave her back. Matt Frewer's acting style , while being at least unique and imaginative, has the overall effect of fingernails on a chalkboard or an ice cream headache. You just want it to stop already. Why did I watch the whole twenty hours you might ask. I was hoping for an ending that would justify the money and effort put into this project and was sadly disappointed. The payoff was a simplistic and obvious religious analogy that was an insult to the intelligence of anyone over the age of six years old. They even threw in Peter's denial of knowing Jesus and the little girl's journal as the bible just in case you didn't `get it.' How dumb did they think this audience would be? Bottom line: watch Close Encounters again.and again.and again. For that matter, even an old episode of Max Headroom would be thirty minutes better spent and much more entertaining.
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15 hour mini-series that could have been told in 3 Nov 3 2003
Format:DVD
I love stories that span generations. It provides so much opportunity to evolve the characters and the plot. With 15 hours (ten 90 minute episodes roughly) to tell the story, I had high hopes of a truly epic and meaningful story. Taken was neither epic nor meaningful. Every episode, I kept waiting for something to move the plot forward, or change the characters in some significant way (these are the precepts of good story telling, that and a challenge to overcome). At the end of most episodes, I came away feeling disappointed. There was no plot. Everyone was a victim or a bad guy. No heros, no one to root for, no one you could feel good about. The challenge in this story was for the abductees to stay out of the clutches of the "evil government organization", and for everyone to try and figure out what the aliens were up to. Normally, you expect the hero to prevail. But, there was no hero, and nobody prevailed. In fact, everyone's situation just got worse. Several characters were victims of their own evil ways, and the rest were just victims. In this respect, Taken is a tragedy, and the only light at the end of 50 years of people doing bad things to each other is the little girl who finally explains what it's all about. A barely profound 10 minutes of revelation after 15 hours of poor setup for such a simple climax. It might have worked if they forced themselves to tell the story in 3-4 hours. At least then, you could get the same experience without having to wade through so much otherwise useless drama.

I suppose seeing the totally disparate reviews on Taken (here and elsewhere) just points out how many different perspectives there are for good story telling and good sci-fi. I guess I should accept that for many people, alien abduction stories, no matter how badly produced, are always a hit. For such people, Taken provides 15 hours of what you probably like most. A few people have likened Taken to a soap opera. Perhaps that's the appeal I'm missing as well. If you want 15 hours of an alien oriented "Days of Our Lives." Buy the DVD. If you want good story telling, with interesting characters that evolve, a plot that moves and something you'll likely watch again and again, don't buy Taken. In my opinion, this mini-series should have been called "Took." That's how I felt after seeing it on TV. Especially considering what the SciFi channel canceled in order to push this mini series on us.

If you must, catch it on the SciFi channel the next time it comes around. With so many other excellent choices on DVD, don't waste your money to buy Taken.

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boring peripheral drama overdose Nov 2 2003
Format:DVD
I love sci-fi and badly wanted to enjoy Taken but there is so much boring, unrelated drama that it's unbearable! People are loving it so maybe it was just me, BUT PLEASE TRY TO CATCH SOME ON TV BEFORE BUYING!!

In addition, I must say that this mini-series is in many ways, an abomination. Spielberg, or whoever was spoonfeeding him, took legitimate stories from historical sources and twisted them into attributing all ufo's to aliens. "Yes, everything is clear to me now- the government really IS trying to protect me from the terrible secret of space". Too much propaganda and not enough storytelling/entertainment. I suspect this review will help 1 in 1 million.

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Most recent customer reviews
Fantastic series and pilot
Several parallel stories of different people and over generations about aliens and deception. The term "Taken" refers to being abducted by aliens; however more than a few people... Read more
Published 20 months ago by bernie
Series finale compensates for the flaws.
The series is a power-mix of everything UFO-Alien, it borrows heavily, and sometimes just steals ideas from Close Encounters, E.T. Read more
Published on May 20 2004 by CharlieGreene
genre fans should enjoy this
Some have likened the nearly 15-hour miniseries "Taken" to "Close Encounters Of The Third Kind" meets "The X-Files." That's not far off the mark. Read more
Published on May 2 2004 by Eric San Juan
POR FIN, VERE COMPLETA LA MINISERIE DE TAKEN....
Si, por fin pude ver completa mi serie favorita! En Morelia, Michoacán, MEXICO, donde vivo la había visto incompleta en dos ocasiones y no lograba entender algunos... Read more
Published on April 11 2004 by Leticia Camargo
TAKEN isn't as good on a whole as it is ambitious.
There is a point in the fourteen and a half hour mini-series TAKEN that you realize you're watching something truly great, and just about the same moment the momentum that carried... Read more
Published on Mar 21 2004 by Hogarth Hughes
As profound as the Sopranos, Roots, the Godfathers.
You know that novel you read where each chapter ends on a note that it's impossible for you not to watch the next one to find out what happens? This is the TV version. Read more
Published on Feb 12 2004 by Jeff
Bashful's DVD Summary #038
Best:

1) The story outline is very cool and has a full-circle feel. It involves 3 generations of 3 families - one victims of the aliens, one part of the aliens and one hunting... Read more

Published on Feb 9 2004 by Brian Hiel
SCI-FI= Equals Bad Movies.
If you watch enough of that cable station, then you know that all they really show are low budget Roger Corman type creature features, or X-Files like docu-dramas, or pilots of... Read more
Published on Feb 4 2004 by Joe Mac Guy
An absolutely brilliant sci-fi series
Steven Spielberg's "Taken" is one of the most ambitious and successful miniseries ever filmed. Read more
Published on Feb 1 2004
A Sci-Fi Orginal!
This movie is a joke. It's so mushy and laced with bad acting that it hurts to watch. Taken, is the story of three families, all of which have been snatched up by the... Read more
Published on Jan 22 2004 by John Pennant
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