schaudhurikol
This series first came on TV when I was only 11 years old and I never missed a single episode. 10 years down the road I got my hands on the DVD. Believe me, watching it even after 10 years hasn't changed my mind. This series is one of the best I have ever watched(I have watched quite a lot of them). Don't watch it as a sci-fi with brilliant graphics. The human characters, their emotions, their complexities is what makes this series absolutely brilliant. In some sense it is quite dark when compared to The Close Encounters of The Third Kind or the E.T. Young Dakota Fanning is very good. I suggest TAKEN for everyone, provided you can watch it an open mind. Cheers Mr. Spielberg!
Jeff Wayne
I just finished watching this entire series and wanted to share some thoughts.The good:Much of the acting seems very natural and heartfelt.Dakota's narration really helps reinforce all the heartfelt acting including her own. Films that have also used narration well in the past really benefit from it. The Shawshank Redemption is a perfect example. I can't escape mentioning again just how heartfelt the acting is. There are many scenes where it doesn't even seem like acting and that it's a real person in that character just telling you how they feel or speaking of their trauma. I truly cherished all those great scenes where every word was spoke in earnest. If you enjoy really connecting emotionally with the characters in what you watch then I highly recommend this series. The bad:I found some of the non-verbal acting very unnatural. A prime example of this is early in episode 7 when it shows the one character playing drums. She looks so awkward and unnatural that I simply can't even pretend her character really is a drummer. Those types of non- dialogue scenes need to reinforce the character. Not devolve your belief in them.Some of the wigs and makeup is very bad and look extremely fake. I would expect more from something Spielberg was heavily involved with. I found the story was too scattered which weakened everything overall a little.
Snipes
Just finished the last episode of Taken and as Dakota Fanning perfectly put it, I've been left with even more questions than before I began watching Taken.For instance, why did it take 10 2,5 hour episodes to tell a story that could have been told in 4 or 5? Why didn't they cut out all scenes with Heather Donahue (her acting was irritating and bad)? Why does Steven Spielberg thinks that people who got taken (if it's really true) should just suck it up and deal with it, because it is for a greater good? The story at some times is really slow paced and boring. I sat through all the episodes (sometimes it took a lot of effort), because I wanted to know if there was a good ending.*** SPOILER (well, kinda)*** The ending sucked, because there was no explanation at all. It felt like I was taken and dropped off at the beginning of the miniseries and nothing ever happened. Spielberg really has to stop with aliens (I mean, Indiana Jones and aliens?????).Some of the actors were good. Dakota Fanning, Adam Kaufman, Ryan Hurst and Emily Bergl were some of the best. Some had roles that were too small or unbelievable. Others were just too crappy for words.I want my 15 hours back that were taken from me...
geezer-24
This series had the potential to one of TVs great. Unfortunately it was very much ruined by the terrible cast. I don't know where they found these amateurs, and I'll never understand why they didn't get any decent actors to be on this production. Thanks to this, I had a hard time keeping my interest up for 10 episodes lasting 1.20 each. At times I had to force myself through an entire episode, as it was too much "daytime soap" over it all. I wish this series had been done with some class actors and better casting, then it would've been a 10/10. If HBO is able to pull it off in almost every series they churn out, why not this?
