2009: Hollywood Blockbusters

When the world economy was hit by recession, the film industry still did well. Be it King of pop late Michael Jackson's low budget documentary This is it or Hugh Jackman's X-Men Origins: Wolverine, these films smashed the box office with their bombastic opening. We bring you the passing year's top grossers.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince: Worldwide collection $925.9 million (Source: Worldwideboxoffice.com). Budget $250 million (estimated). Plot Summary: Voldemort is tightening his grip on both the Muggle and wizarding worlds and Hogwarts is no longer the safe haven it once was. Harry suspects that dangers may even lie within the castle, but Dumbledore is more intent upon preparing him for the final battle that he knows is fast approaching. Together they work to find the key to unlock Voldemort's defenses and, to this end, Dumbledore recruits his old friend and colleague, the well-connected and unsuspecting bon vivant Professor Horace Slughorn, whom he believes holds crucial information. Meanwhile, one student remains aloof. He is determined to make his mark, albeit a dark one. Love is in the air, but tragedy lies ahead and Hogwarts may never be the same again. (Warner Bros.)

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince: Review: "Harry is better than ever, a triumph of visual wonder and emotional storytelling. Only Muggles, who wouldn't know Slytherin from Gryffindor, will dismiss it as kid stuff for the multitudes who drank the Kool-Aid of J.K. Rowling's seven books...The shadows, and the dangers lurking within, have always drawn me deepest into Potter World. Newcomers shouldn't worry about playing catch-up. Getting lost in the hypnotic Half-Blood Prince is what gives the movie its haunting power." (Peter Travers/Rolling Stone)

Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs: Worldwide collection $882.6 million (Source: Worldwideboxoffice.com). Budget $90 million (estimated). Plot Summary: The sub-zero heroes from the worldwide blockbusters Ice Age and Ice Age: The Meltdown are back, on an incredible adventure...and in 3-D. This time, they’re beneath the ice, discovering a world of dinosaurs. (20th Century Fox)

Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs: Review: "With appreciably greater emphasis on action than its predecessors, and clever use of 3-D trickery to enhance storytelling as well as offer spectacle, Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs could prove the third time really is the charm." (Variety)

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen: Worldwide collection $832.1 million (Source: Worldwideboxoffice.com). Budget $200 million (estimated). Plot Summary: In the highly-anticipated Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, debuting June 24, 2009, Sam Witwicky again joins with the Autobots against their sworn enemies, the Decepticons. (Paramount Pictures)

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen: Review: "The sequence serves no real purpose beyond dazzle for dazzle's sake, but when you're watching it, that's purpose enough. Revenge of the Fallen has a number of dead spots, but every time the movie hits one, you can sit back in eager, childish anticipation of the next feat of industrial whirligig diversion."(Entertainment Weekly)

Up: Worldwide collection $673 million (Source: Worldwideboxoffice.com). Budget $175 million (estimated). Plot Summary: Up is a comedy adventure about 78-year-old balloon salesman Carl Fredricksen, who finally fulfills his lifelong dream of a great adventure when he ties thousands of balloons to his house and flies away to the wilds of South America. But he discovers all too late that his biggest nightmare has stowed away on the trip: an overly optimistic 9-year-old Wilderness Explorer named Russell. (Walt Disney Pictures)

Up: Review: "But what gives "Up" such a joyously buoyant lift is the refreshingly nongimmicky way in which the process has been incorporated into the big picture -- and what a wonderful big picture it is. Winsome, touching and arguably the funniest Pixar effort ever, the gorgeously rendered, high-flying adventure is a tidy 90-minute distillation of all the signature touches that came before it." (Hollywood Reporter)

2012: Worldwide collection $537.5 million (Source: Worldwideboxoffice.com). Budget $200 million (estimated). Plot Summary: Never before has a date in history been so significant to so many cultures, so many religions, scientists, and governments. 2012 is an epic adventure about a global cataclysm that brings an end to the world and tells of the heroic struggle of the survivors. (Sony Pictures)

2012: Review: "2012 takes the disaster movie -- once content simply to threaten the Earth with a comet, or blow up the White House -- to its natural conclusion, the literal end of the world...As a spectacle-delivery device, it has no peer. Other movies have explosions; 2012 has an atom-bomb-size detonation that wipes Yellowstone off the map. Other movies have earthquakes; 2012 sends California sinking, in flames, into the sea. Other movies kill thousands; 2012 kills zillions without breaking a sweat." (Washington Post)

Angels & Demons: Worldwide collection $481 million (Source: Worldwideboxoffice.com). Budget $150 million (estimated). Plot Summary: When Langdon discovers evidence of the resurgence of an ancient secret brotherhood known as the Illuminati - the most powerful underground organization in history - he also faces a deadly threat to the existence of the secret organization's most despised enemy: the Catholic Church. When Langdon learns that the clock is ticking on an unstoppable Illuminati time bomb, he jets to Rome, where he joins forces with Vittoria Vetra, a beautiful and enigmatic Italian scientist. Embarking on a nonstop, action-packed hunt through sealed crypts, dangerous catacombs, deserted cathedrals, and even to the heart of the most secretive vault on earth, Langdon and Vetra will follow a 400-year-old trail of ancient symbols that mark the Vatican's only hope for survival. (Sony Pictures)

Angels & Demons: Review: "The film has pretensions to profundity. It wants to make lofty statements on science, religion, faith. The hitch is that the plot is nonsensical. Several twists and turns will have you asking: what just happened? If you look for logic, Angels and Demons will collapse like a pack of cards. So, my advice is do what you do for most Bollywood films: suspend disbelief and don't ask too many questions. Just sit back and take in the fabulous sights and sounds of Rome; the stellar star cast; the high-end production values." (Anupama Chopra, Consulting Editor, Films, NDTV)

Twilight Saga: The New Moon: Worldwide collection $476.3 million. Budget $50 million (estimated). Plot Summary: In the second installment of Stephenie Meyer's phenomenally successful Twilight series, the romance between mortal and vampire soars to a new level as Bella Swan delves deeper into the mysteries of the supernatural world she yearns to become part of—only to find herself in greater peril than ever before. (Summit Entertainment)

Twilight Saga: The New Moon: Review: "Mopey, draggy, and absurdly self-important, the movie nonetheless twangs at some resonant affective chord. This viewer, at least, was catapulted back to that moment of adolescence when being mopey, draggy, and absurdly self-important felt like a passionate act of liberation." (Slate)

The Hangover: Worldwide collection $461.6 million (Source: Worldwideboxoffice.com). Budget $35 million (estimated). Plot Summary: Two days before his wedding, Doug and his three buddies drive to Vegas for a blow-out night they'll never forget. But when the three groomsmen wake up the next morning with pounding headaches, they can't remember a thing. Their posh hotel suite is beyond trashed and the groom is nowhere to be found. With no clue of what happened and little time to spare, the trio must attempt to retrace their bad decisions from the night before in order to figure out where things went wrong and hopefully get Doug back to L.A. in time for his wedding. However, the more they begin to uncover, the more they realize just how much trouble they're really in. (Warner Bros.)

The Hangover: Review: "At once raucously free-wheeling and meticulously contrived, picture satisfies as a boys-gone-wild laff riot that also clicks as a seriocomic beat-the-clock detective story." (Variety)

Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian: Worldwide collection $413.2 million (Source: Worldwideboxoffice.com). Budget $150 million (estimated). Plot Summary: Night has fallen upon the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC. The guides have gone home, the lights are out, the school kids are tucked in their beds...yet something incredible is stirring as former night guard Larry Daley finds himself lured into his biggest, most imagination-boggling adventure yet in which history truly comes alive. In this second installment of the Night at the Museum saga, Larry faces a battle so epic it could only unfold in the corridors of the world’s largest museum. Now, Larry must try to save his formerly inanimate friends from what could be their last stand amid the wonders of the Smithsonian, all of which, from the famous paintings on the walls to the rocket ships in the halls, suddenly have a mind of their own. (20th Century Fox)

Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian: Review: "Though it's a little slow to start and some of the humor clunks, the film features a wholesome charm, some truly dazzling effects (the Lincoln Memorial alone is worth it), and enough mild, parent-nip in-jokes to keep all but the stone-hearted happy." (Village Voice)

Star Trek: Worldwide collection $382.7 million (Source: Worldwideboxoffice.com). Budget $150 million (estimated). Plot Summary: The greatest adventure of all time begins with Star Trek, the incredible story of a young crew's maiden voyage onboard the most advanced starship ever created: the U.S.S. Enterprise. On a journey filled with action, comedy and cosmic peril, the new recruits must find a way to stop an evil being whose mission of vengeance threatens all of mankind. The fate of the galaxy rests in the hands of bitter rivals. One, James T. Kirk, is a delinquent, thrill-seeking Iowa farm boy. The other, Spock, was raised in a logic-based society that rejects all emotion. As fiery instinct clashes with calm reason, their unlikely but powerful partnership is the only thing capable of leading their crew through unimaginable danger, boldly going where no one has gone before! (Paramount)

Star Trek: Review: "This installment has achieved a nearly impossible hat trick. It's a movie that is exegetically correct enough to appease the most hard-core buffs, while opening up the final frontier to a whole new generation of fans who have yet to appreciate Star Trek's ineffable combination of sci-fi action, campy humor and yin-yang philosophical tussle between logic and emotion." (Washington Post)

X-Men Origins: Wolverine: Worldwide collection $374.9 million (Source: Worldwideboxoffice.com). Budget $150 million (estimated). Plot Summary: Hugh Jackman reprises the role that made him a superstar - as the fierce fighting machine who possesses amazing healing powers, retractable claws and a primal fury. Leading up to the events of X-Men, X-Men Origins: Wolverine tells the story of Wolverine's epically violent and romantic past, his complex relationship with Victor Creed, and the ominous Weapon X program. Along the way, Wolverine encounters many mutants, both familiar and new, including surprise appearances by several legends of the X-Men universe whose appearances in the film series have long been anticipated. (20th Century Fox)

X-Men Origins: Wolverine: Review: "Of late, films on super heroes like Spiderman have explored the vulnerabilities of the character. Since Wolverine is actually invincible, it makes him super-boring actually. The movie then relies entirely on special effects and first-rate work on CGI, or computer-generated images. For sure, you're wowed in some parts. But an entire movie with absolutely no layers, not one kick-ass line of dialogue and hardly a new twist to the material? It can become hard to take after a while. Batman upped the ante with Dark Knight. This one just gets dumb and dumber." (Anupama Chopra, Consulting Editor, Films, NDTV)

Terminator Salvation: Worldwide collection $369.5 million (Source: Worldwideboxoffice.com). Budget $200 million (estimated). Plot Summary: Judgment Day has come and gone. The artificial intelligence network Skynet controls the army of Terminators that roam the post-apocalyptic landscape, killing or collecting humans where they hide in the desolate cities and deserts. Only one man saw Judgment Day coming. One man, whose destiny has always been intertwined with the fate of human existence: John Connor. Now the world is on the brink of the future that Connor has been warned about all his life. But something totally new has shaken his belief that humanity stands a chance of winning this war: the appearance of Marcus Wright, a stranger from the past whose last memory is of being on death row before awakening in this strange, new world. (Warner Bros. Pictures)

Terminator Salvation: Review: "There is a humanoid or a robot who could either be friendly to humans or an insider plan. Trust me you wouldn't care. Because the movie hasn't bothered itself with stories or even characters. It's just a silly, humourless story-board where everything just keeps crashing and ramming into something or the other. There are not even dialogues. Or actually there is one that gets repeated: You put a gun at someone, you better be ready to pull the trigger.. Wow, profound for a video-game, which this film should have just been." (Anupama Chopra, Consulting Editor, Films, NDTV)

Fast & Furious: Worldwide collection $360.4 million (Source: Worldwideboxoffice.com). Budget $85 million (estimated). Plot Summary: It's been eight years since ex-con Dominic Toretto drove across the Mexican border, committing himself to a fugitive existence. Now, holed up in a beach shack in the Dominican Republic, and living on the run with the sole remnant of his past, Lett, he tries to piece together a new life. But he knows the authorities are always just steps behind him. And, when a tragic death of someone he loves brings Brian O’Conner back to L.A., Dom reignites his feud with the agent. As they are forced to confront a shared enemy, a sociopathic drug kingpin who is flooding the U.S. with lethal product, Dom and Brian must give it to an uncertain new trust if they hope to outmaneuver him and avenge the tragedy that he caused their small de facto family to endure. (Universal Pictures)

Fast & Furious: Review: "No matter what, it's safe to say that this entirely acceptable retooling of the franchise makes for a satisfying experience for those who enjoy four-wheeled chases, hot bodies, hot cars, and a tall dose of tough-guy machismo." (TV Guide)

Inglourious Basterds: Worldwide collection $313.6 million (Source: Worldwideboxoffice.com). Budget $70 million (estimated). Plot Summary: In the first year of the German occupation of France, Shosanna Dreyfus witnesses the execution of her family at the hand of Nazi Colonel Hans Landa. Shosanna narrowly escapes and flees to Paris where she forges a new identity as the owner and operator of a cinema. Elsewhere in Europe, lieutenant Aldo Raine organizes a group of Jewish American soldiers to perform swift, shocking acts of retribution. Later known to their enemy as "the basterds," Raine's squad joins German actress and undercover agent Bridget von Hammersmark on a mission to take down the leaders of the Third Reich. Fates converge under a cinema marquis, where Shosanna is poised to carry out a revenge plan of her own. (The Weinstein Company)

Inglourious Basterds: Review: "At one point in Inglorious Basterds, Nazi Colonel Hans Landa, played impeccably by Christoph Waltz, asks: What shall the history books read? Well, no history book is going to read this version of World War II. Inglorious Basterds is Quentin Tarantino’s fantastical, outrageous, frustrating but ultimately audacious rewriting of history." (Anupama Chopra, Consulting Editor, Films, NDTV)

The Proposal: Worldwide collection $304.7 million (Source: Worldwideboxoffice.com). Budget $40 million (estimated). Plot Summary: When high-powered book editor Margaret faces deportation to her native Canada, the quick-thinking exec declares that she's actually engaged to her unsuspecting put-upon assistant Andrew, who she's tormented for years. He agrees to participate in the charade, but with a few conditions of his own. The unlikely couple heads to Alaska to meet his quirky family and the always-in-control city girl finds herself in one comedic fish-out-of-water situation after another. With an impromptu wedding in the works and an immigration official on their tails, Margaret and Andrew reluctantly vow to stick to the plan despite the precarious consequences. (Touchstone Pictures, Disney)

The Proposal: Review: "Recycles a plot that was already old when Tracy and Hepburn were trying it out. You see it coming from a great distance away. As it draws closer, you don't duck out of the way, because it is so cheerfully done, you don't mind being hit by it." (Chicago Sun-Times)

G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra: Worldwide collection $300.9 million (Source: Worldwideboxoffice.com). Budget $175 million (estimated). Plot Summary: Paramount Pictures and Hasbro, whose previous collaboration was the worldwide blockbuster Transformers, join forces with Spyglass Entertainment for another extraordinary action-adventure "G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra." From the Egyptian desert to deep below the polar ice caps, the elite G.I. JOE team uses the latest in next-generation spy and military equipment to fight the corrupt arms dealer Destro and the growing threat of the mysterious Cobra organization to prevent them from plunging the world into chaos. G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra. is directed by Stephen Sommers (The Mummy, The Mummy Returns).

G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra: Review: "GI Joe is so devoid of narrative, character, dialogue, coherence and logic, that it gives toys a bad name...The dialogue is an after-thought. After several minutes of crushing noise, a character will drop a brain-dead line like: Science requires sacrifice or I'm going to make you very unhappy. The film made good on that promise. When it finished, I was unhappy and exhausted. GI Joe is the cinematic equivalent of a hold-up in a dark alley. It knocks you senseless." (Anupama Chopra, Consulting Editor, Films, NDTV)

G-Force: Worldwide collection $280.5 million (Source: Worldwideboxoffice.com). Budget $150 million (estimated). Plot Summary: Armed with the latest high-tech spy equipment, highly trained guinea pigs discover that the fate of the world is in their paws. Tapped for the G-Force are guinea pigs Darwin, the squad leader determined to succeed at all costs; Blaster, an outrageous weapons expert with tons of attitude and a love for all things extreme; and Juarez, a sexy martial arts pro; plus the literal fly-on-the-wall reconnaissance expert, Mooch, and a star-nosed mole, Speckles, the computer and information specialist. (Walt Disney Pictures)

G-Force: Review: "Thanks to an unexpected twist and a clever motivation lurking in the back story of the super-villain, G-Force has enough going on to more or less maintain grown-up interest, and there's plenty to please the kiddies." (New York Post)

This is It: Worldwide collection $240.3 million (Source: Boxofficemojo.com). Plot Summary: Michael Jackson's This Is It will offer Jackson fans and music lovers worldwide a rare, behind-the-scenes look at the performer as he developed, created and rehearsed for his sold-out concerts that would have taken place beginning this summer in London's O2 Arena. Chronicling the months from April through June, 2009, the film is produced with the full support of the Estate of Michael Jackson and drawn from more than one hundred hours of behind-the-scenes footage, featuring Jackson rehearsing a number of his songs for the show. Audiences will be given a privileged and private look at Jackson as he has never been seen before. In raw and candid detail, Michael Jackson's This Is It captures the singer, dancer, filmmaker, architect, creative genius and great artist at work as he creates and perfects his final show. (Sony Pictures)

This is It: Review: "'This is It' is way too long and it doesn’t give us any insight into the man behind the myth. We still don't know what Michael Jackson was really like or what fed his prodigious talent. But the film is an all access pass to a great entertainer’s working life. For fans, it's manna from heaven. But even those of us who don’t go into raptures at the sight of a shiny glove will find much to admire in this frail and fraught man." (Anupama Chopra, Consulting Editor, Films, NDTV)

Public Enemies: Worldwide collection $205.4 million (Source: Worldwideboxoffice.com). Budget $100 million (estimated). Plot Summary: No one could stop Dillinger and his gang. No jail could hold him. His charm and audacious jailbreaks endeared him to almost everyone—from his girlfriend Billie Frechette to an American public who had no sympathy for the banks that had plunged the country into the Depression. But while the adventures of Dillinger's gang thrilled many, Hoover made Dillinger America's first Public Enemy Number One. (Universal Pictures)

Public Enemies: Review: "Depp doesn’t make Dillinger an easy read. He’s charismatic and witty but also dark and strangely menacing. His sexy swagger masks a knowing angst. His vulnerability in love is deeply moving. It is a memorable performance. Bale starts to show hints of life toward only in the latter half of the film but Cottilard is fittingly lovely and tragic. Public Enemies never becomes more than the sum of its parts. Underneath the gangster chic, the film doesn’t have clarity or enough narrative tension. But I strongly recommend that you catch it. It has layers that simmer inside you long after the film is over." (Anupama Chopra, Consulting Editor, Films, NDTV)

The Ugly Truth: Worldwide collection $202.6 million (Source: Worldwideboxoffice.com). Budget $38 million (estimated). Plot Summary: The battle of the sexes heats up in Columbia Pictures’ comedy The Ugly Truth. Abby Richter is a romantically challenged morning show producer whose search for Mr. Perfect has left her hopelessly single. She's in for a rude awakening when her bosses team her with Mike Chadway, a hardcore TV personality who promises to spill the ugly truth on what makes men and women tick. (Sony Pictures)

The Ugly Truth: Review: "The Ugly Truth is an arch, contrived, entirely predictable romantic comedy assembled with sufficient audience-friendly elements to put it over as both a good girls' night attraction and a date-night lure raunchy enough to leave couples in the right mood afterward." (Variety)

Monsters vs. Aliens: Worldwide collection $198.4 million (Source: Worldwideboxoffice.com). Budget $175 million (estimated). Plot Summary: When California girl Susan Murphy is unwittingly clobbered by a meteor full of outer space gunk on her wedding day, she mysteriously grows to 49-feet-11-inches tall. The military jumps into action and Susan is captured and secreted away to a covert government compound. There, she is renamed Ginormica and placed in confinement with a ragtag group of Monsters: the brilliant but insect-headed Dr. Cockroach, Ph.D.; the macho half-ape, half-fish The Missing Link; the gelatinous and indestructible B.O.B.; and the 350-foot grub called Insectosaurus. Their confinement is cut short, however, when a mysterious alien robot lands on Earth and begins storming the country. In a moment of desperation, the President is persuaded to enlist the motley crew of Monsters to combat the Alien Robot and save the world from imminent destruction. (Paramount)

Monsters vs. Aliens: Review: "The grandeur of the effects--the honest-to-God spectacle of the thing--elevates Monsters vs. Aliens to something approaching art. It's not a masterpiece, but it's most certainly a milestone." (Village Voice)

The Final Destination: Worldwide collection $182.6 million (Source: Worldwideboxoffice.com). Budget $40 million (estimated). Plot Summary: Death is coming and Alex Browning (Sawa) is blessed with the curse of knowing when, how and where the grim reaper will strike. (New Line Cinema)

The Final Destination: Review: "I have a very low threshold for gore but if you find it entertaining, you might be engaged by the first few bump-offs. But after that The Final Destination becomes an endurance test. It’s boring and tacky and not frightening in the least." (Anupama Chopra, Consulting Editor, Films, NDTV)

Knowing: Worldwide collection $181.2 million (Source: Worldwideboxoffice.com). Budget $50 million (estimated). Plot Summary: In 1958, as part of the dedication ceremony for a new elementary school, a group of students is asked to draw pictures to be stored in a time capsule. But one mysterious girl fills her sheet of paper with rows of apparently random numbers instead. Fifty years later, a new generation of students examines the capsule's contents and the girl's cryptic message ends up in the hands of young Caleb Koestler. But it is Caleb's father, professor John Koestler, who makes the startling discovery that the encoded message predicts with pinpoint accuracy the dates, death tolls and coordinates of every major disaster of the past 50 years. As Ted further unravels the document's chilling secrets, he realizes the document foretells three additional events—the last of which hints at destruction on a global scale and seems to somehow involve Ted and his son. When Ted's attempts to alert the authorities fall on deaf ears, he takes it upon himself to try to prevent more destruction from taking place. (Summit Entertainment)

Knowing: Review: "Genre fans always looking for something new and awesome may feel like they've seen most of this before, but the conceptual and emotional strength of Summit's Nicolas Cage starrer largely carries the day." (Variety)

Watchmen: Worldwide collection $175.5 million (Source: Worldwideboxoffice.com). Budget $130 million (estimated). Plot Summary: Watchmen is set in an alternate 1985 America in which costumed superheroes are part of the fabric of everyday society. When one of his former colleagues is murdered, the outlawed but no less determined masked vigilante Rorschach sets out to uncover a plot to kill and discredit all past and present superheroes. As he reconnects with his former crime-fighting legion--a disbanded group of retired superheroes, only one of whom has true powers--Rorschach glimpses a wide-ranging and disturbing conspiracy with links to their shared past and catastrophic consequences for the future. Their mission is to watch over humanity...but who is watching the Watchmen? (Warner Bros.)

Watchmen: Review: "The casting clicks; the visuals have leaped right out of Dave Gibbons' original panels; the action is brutal, stylish and well-staged, and -- with most of the major characters, themes and symbolism are retained in an abbreviated form -- the 2 1/2-hour film makes an enjoyably esoteric Cliff's Notes version of the book." (Seattle Post-Intelligencer)

Paul Blart: Mall Cop: Worldwide collection $160.6 million (Source: Worldwideboxoffice.com). Budget $26 million (estimated). Plot Summary: Paul Blart is a single, suburban dad, trying to make ends meet as a security officer at a New Jersey mall. Though no one else takes his job seriously, Paul considers himself on the front lines of safety. When a heist shuts down the megaplex, Jersey's most formidable mall cop will have to become a real cop to save the day. (Sony Pictures)

Paul Blart: Mall Cop: Review: "It's as slam-bang preposterous as any R-rated comedy you can name. It's just that Paul Blart and the film's other characters don't feel the need to use the f-word as the building block of every sentence." (Chicago Sun-Times)

Taken: Worldwide collection $145 million (Source: Worldwideboxoffice.com). Budget $25 million (estimated). Plot Summary: When his estranged daughter is kidnapped in Paris, a former spy sets out to find her at any cost. Relying on his special skills, he tracks down the ruthless gang that abducted her and launches a one-man war to bring them to justice and rescue his daughter. (20th Century Fox)

Taken: Review: "Taken, which tells the story of how Liam Neeson blows a gasket and flies off to France and kills 75 Albanians in 90 minutes, is crisp, efficient and deeply insane. Neeson, who now resembles an aging Labrador retriever, all angles and mournful eyes and jumpy eagerness, plays a former CIA spook whose clandestine career bled into his home and made blood sausage of his family." (Chicago Tribune)