VIDEO
Taken

Starring: Dakota Fanning, Joel Gretsch, Eric Close & Julie Benz
Universal Pictures Video
RRP: £39.99
8300104
Certificate: 15
Available now


Set against the backdrop of more than 50 years of American history, this is the story of three generations of three families - the Keys, Crawfords and Clarkes. Starting in the skies over France in 1945 and progressing through the decades to modern day accounts of alien abductions, the series is an awe-inspiring look at the lives of three ordinary families who experience the extraordinary. When the secrets of the decades begin to unravel, all three families must come together to unlock the shocking mysteries that have plagued them for generations...

Stephen Spielberg acts as executive producer on this mini-series about alien abduction as seen through the eyes of three American families, from Roswell to the present day. What did happen in Roswell, New Mexico in 1947? And why did the government cover it up? Taken adds a new slant on a much filmed topic.

And it works well. While slow in places, this series builds to an exciting climax. The opening seconds - a dogfight during WWII - are breathtaking. This is one opening where you should be watching on the largest TV screen possible - with the sound cranked up.

The series then progresses rapidly through the decades (with one/two episodes dedicated to each decade) dropping in subtle time specific items. UFO fanatics will no doubt be impressed with the mentions of Betty and Barney Hill - who claimed to have been abducted by aliens - as well as mentions of the Apollo 13 mission and the Cuban missile crisis. But the show's better moments come in the final segments set in modern day America.

This box set contains 10 episodes (each 90mins in length) and is certainly worth the asking price. Anyone who likes gripping dramas will fall in love with this beautifully constructed series.

Yes, I was quiet taken with Taken.

Nick Smithson

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