Rating: 
Summary: Alternate Roswell Scenario
Review: Taken has been one of the most excellent epic series I have seen and it has kept me sitting down every single weekend just to watch what's going to happened next. The series itself kept us on the edge of the seats and Spielberg has obvious broken out from the circles of alien abduction cliche movies to a whole new level. The alternate version of what really happened in Roswell. The air whether balloon & the starship. An escaped alien meets a human female. The begining of crop circles era. The visitations and abductions by the aliens to the human kinds. The story of three different family who at the begining, do not have any connection to each other has their destiny entwined by an unexpected visitor in their lives and the story goes through the whole 3 generation that ends up with an unexpected end.
Rating:
Summary: The sun and the moon
Review: Taken kept me in front of the TV for 20 fabulous hours. I watched it the first time it ran and then I watched the marathon... I just could not get enough of it. I also purchased the book and read it and it was a great experience. This is by far my favorite Spielberg movie. I am currently watching it again in the SciFi Channel and I can always find a new detail that I missed in the previous times. They did not miss any details! It is awesome! And definetely, the phrase "you are the sun and the moon to me" will never be the same! ;-)
Rating: 
Summary: Somewhat good beginning, tiresome and silly ending
Review: It all starts up rather interestingly for those who are somewhat interested in ufology lore and all. There's the Roswell crash, little gray men, all the right AF bases cited up and everything. The bad guys are pretty ruthless, there ARE some elements of surprise as to who dies etc. Okay, we've seen it all before in one form or another, but it still works not bad. Alas, comes episode 6... And from then on, the stuff gets rather ridiculous. Spielberg, I think, had a lot more input into this than the disappointed people in here want to believe. It has all the ingredients of a bad Spielberg-driven "drama", irritating cute kid included. Yeah, Stevie boy, we KNOW by now that what's most important is Family and Kids and Morals. We get your point! It's in every piece of script you touch in one way or another. And it's driven home with the subtlety of a caterpillar driver as usual. Gosh, how many times per episode do we have to hear "we must remain a family" and "I have to find my daughter"? Thank you, Stevie boy, to have turned a promising ufo story into an unsufferable soap opera. The second part of this show is a sitcom featuring little grays -and barely, at that. All the cliches, be they Spielbergian or else, are there, and I mean Every. Single. One. It's derivative of everything sci-fi over the last 20 years. Roswell, X-files, CETK, you name it, they're all there. And it just drones on and on and on... I don't know what got into the folks who produced this show from the second half on. What a sad contrast it was with the first five episodes... Pass up.
Rating:
Summary: Taken
Review: I thought it would be just another story, full of special affects, hardly any plot and playing on the same old tired story lines other movies have used, but was I surprised. This is the first movie my wife wasn't able to pry me away from, and I know it's the first one she canceled all of her evening activities so she could watch too. I ordered the DVD's as soon as I saw the were for sale, and anxiously look forward to seeing them in their entirety without the commercial interruptions. I just hope my wife doesn't invite her noisey girl friends to watch it with us.
Rating:
Summary: TAKEN...wil carry you away!
Review: By far the most comprehensive and persuasive Sci-Fi "historical fiction" ever produced in a mini-series format.
The storyline is extremely tight and compeling and rich with deep characters.
The multi-generational spanning of family characters inter-twined with the mysterious undercurrent of the alien abductions and the shadowy (MAJIC-12, Air Force, etc.) government figures pursuing them both, make a sort triangulating crossfire of suspense!
The sinister air intelligence officer, Owen Crawford, is a malevolent but attractive character in the same way Star Wars fans gravitate to the charisma of Darth Vader; an evil character but not totally of his accord - driven to his acts of cruelty and coldness by an uncontrollable obseesion to discover the secrets of the alien presence.
His offspring, one son following in his father's oversized footsteps and the other diverging from this path both meet their fate in the shadow of the alien conspiracy but at different ends of the spectrum.
It is the granddaughter of Owen Crawford who is the true prodigy that continues her grandfather's work with the same obsessive zeal and malevolence to the point of madness.
On the other side of the story is the family plagued and pursued by the Crawford legacy for as many generations.
A family that not only has intimate knowledge of the alien presence and the continued visits and abductions but has a "bloodline" connection dating back to the Roswell Incident 1947 that creates successive generations of hybrids that have gifted abilities.
It is this that the Crawfords and the other gov't "spooks" want most. To capture these children and later adults that possess this secret inside.
The third element being the aliens themselves are constantly confounding the govenment entities while plaguing the family's of abductees for generations.
The richly developed story twists and blends to contrast and compare all these characters throughout the production and climaxes with the collision of of all three forces truly bringing into understanding the meaning of its title name "Taken".
This is a must own masterpiece!
Rating:
Summary: HAD to see it in one go!
Review: The fact that I am a SF buff has nothing to do with the high rating I gave this series. My wife, who actually could not care less about UFO's, Star Wars etc. watched the whole thing and went "wow". If this happens, then Taken is definitely worth a 5 star rating. Not that we believe (or we do) in abductions, UFO's etc. but in this case there is actually a story behind everything - and a compelling one. If you expect laser blasters and space fights you are in for a big disappointment, but let this not deter you from watching Taken. It is done very intelligently. The fiction parts are used to glue various pieces of UFO/abductions information/rumor that has been circulating since the forties. The blend is very believable. My bottom line - get it even if you are not a SF fan. You won't be sorry. Al
Rating:
Summary: You're being way too kind
Review: "Band of Brothers" was a riveting and sophisticated mini-series, but "Taken" is a tepid mess all around. It's a distant cousin of the magnificent "Close Encounters," the innocent fable "E.T," the engagingly prophetic "Minority Report" and the fascinating "A.I." "Taken" has weak graphics, a disappointing story and generic casting. In fact, I didn't feel Spieldberg's presence much in this at all. I think he phone-homed it in. It's a boring slog. And they cancelled "Farscape" for this? Pffffft... there's no sign of life in Sci-Fi Channel's universe. Not recommended.
Rating: 
Summary: Lulls in places, but a spectatular modern epic
Review: In the 1990s the US government came out with the facts that many had suspected all along: in 1947, in one of the nastier phases of the Cold War, the weird debris found in Roswell was almost certainly a secret weapon, rather than alien spacecraft. Indeed, this was "Project Mogul." Taken distinguishes itself from other alien movies by acknowledging the existance of Mogul... than attributing its crash to an alien spacecraft. It was the epic film's first, but not last, brilliant concept. Many scenes here are spectacular, but some lack energy and others- particularly the hostage situation- seem out of place. Nevertheless this is a great series, and it works on several levels. Some may disagree, I know all to well, but I even enjoyed the character Chet; played by the same man who provided the voice for the Pink Panther cartoon, he may seem annoying but provides colour and energy. He isn't the only one to provide an excellent performance here, mind you. I would put this next to Jodie Foster's Contact among alien films. Spielberg didn't have a hand in Contact that I know of, but one thing's for sure, his fingerprints are all over Taken.
Rating: 
Summary: Taken: Abduction of SciFi by a Soap Opera
Review: As can be expected by something produced by Steven Spielberg, this mini-series has good actors and high production values. The scripts and direction are fine, but nothing outstanding. Essentially, this is soap opera mixed with Spielberg suburban feel-good morality using the alien angle and government cover-up as a pure plot vehicle and nothing more. As with most Spielberg works, it is long on production values and short on depth or profundity. It does keep your viewing attention, but only in the "what will happen next to him/her" sense of soap operas. By all means, sit back and enjoy, but don't expect much of substance from this series. I suggest watching it first before considering a purchase. Probably a safe buy for those who loved The Waltons or Little House on the Prairie.
Rating:
Summary: I'm so glad I watched this series. Totally worth your time!
Review: I think this is the best movie I've seen in years. The plot keeps you on your toes till the end of each episode and one can't help but look forward to the next one. Very intruiging and the special effects are a plus! The series is beautifully written, the characters are well-developed and the actors did a terrific job. I especially love the character of Jesse Keys who is played by Desmond Harrington. I've only seen him in this movie but I think he's a pretty talented actor. I hope to see more of him soon because he's hot! I think getting the dvd is going to be worth it!
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