“Taken” was a remarkably efficient action thriller, starring Liam Neeson as a killing machine who unleashes his “very particular set of skills” in a tireless effort to rescue his abducted daughter. After two sequels, the title now lands on NBC as a series, albeit one that basically just appropriated the name, with nothing particularly special or skillful about it.
Clive Standen (from History’s “Vikings”) is a brawny fit in the role of a younger Bryan Mills, introduced here as single and childless. (The premiere’s one genuinely clever moment, for anyone familiar with the films, is when someone presciently tells Mills that having children is incompatible with his line of work.)
Mills is introduced aboard a train, in an action sequence that establishes both his military-honed talents and a reason for him to seek revenge. From there, though, the show shifts into the mode of a more conventional espionage thriller — NBC’s “The Blacklist” or “Blindspot,” under a marketing-friendly moniker.
Toward that end, “Taken” features a crack government team, headed by Jennifer Beals, which first monitors Mills and eventually recruits him as an operative. It’s also another one of those programs where the good guys prove every bit as ruthless as the bad ones, in a the-ends-justify-the-means manner.
Although Standen cuts a pretty imposing figure to explore Mills’ origins, he’s hardly a stand-in for Neeson’s snarling intensity. Then again, the writers have somewhat hampered the character with the cliché of having him grapple with the emotional stress of what he’s experienced, prompting his new colleagues to question whether Mills can handle the gig.
NBC is certainly giving “Taken” a big helping hand in the early going, scheduling the show to follow “The Voice” on Mondays — a spot where the similarly themed “The Blacklist” and “Blindspot” each flourished.
To be fair, “Taken” didn’t exactly lend itself to an episodic format without tinkering, since nobody — even Mills — could be unlucky enough to have someone close to him snatched by thugs week after week.
Still, there’s something dreary about another movie-inspired TV show that does little more than borrow a known brand name as a come-on. Even if that strategy succeeds, there’s not much to recommend “Taken,” which exists primarily based on the rather cynical hope that viewers will be taken in by it.
“Taken” premieres February 27 at 10 p.m. on NBC.