# Tonight's movie choice- Defiance or Taken? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 6, 2009, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tonights-movie-choice-defiance-or-taken/484757 "2009-02-06T22:22:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Moirai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2009, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tonights-movie-choice-defiance-or-taken/484757/1 "2009-02-06T22:22:37Z")
_Milk_ and _Frost-Nixon_ are too far away, _Gran Torino_ doesn’t start until 10:00 pm… So help us choose between _Defiance_ (part of the Hollywood All-Nazi Christmas Season) and _Taken_. Ebert actually gave _Taken_ one-half star more than _Defiance_, which seems odd. Any advice? ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2009, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tonights-movie-choice-defiance-or-taken/484757/2 "2009-02-06T23:10:07Z")
Depends. Do you want to watch Edward Zwick unsuccessfully begging for an Oscar, or do you want to watch Liam Neeson maiming criminals? ---
**Author:** ![Moirai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2009, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tonights-movie-choice-defiance-or-taken/484757/3 "2009-02-07T00:53:35Z")
Maiming might be more fun and less embarrassing… ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2009, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tonights-movie-choice-defiance-or-taken/484757/4 "2009-02-07T01:08:28Z")
> [@EJsGirl](#): > > Maiming might be more fun and less embarrassing… I think Taken will be less cringe-worthy. It is what it is, it doesn’t have any pretense to being bigger than it is. ---
**Author:** ![Omniscient](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omniscient/32/3290_2.png) [@Omniscient](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omniscient)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2009, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tonights-movie-choice-defiance-or-taken/484757/5 "2009-02-07T01:21:29Z")
I haven’t seen either, but I’m decidedly eager to see _Taken_. It looks like a fun one. That said, you owe it to yourself to see _Frost/Nixon_. It’s awesome. ---
**Author:** ![Critical1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@Critical1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Critical1)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2009, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tonights-movie-choice-defiance-or-taken/484757/6 "2009-02-07T01:27:22Z")
my review of taken when something like this Taken is a film in which Liam Neeson kicks a lot of ass, a ton of ass, foreign ass just for the added kicks and he does it well, if they had shown us 1.5 hours of Liam kicking ass I would tell you to go see this movie, sadly they didnt so I cant. long story short, when Liam isnt breaking peoples bones the movie sucks balls ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2009, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tonights-movie-choice-defiance-or-taken/484757/7 "2009-02-07T01:41:33Z")
> [@Critical1](#): > > long story short, when Liam isnt breaking peoples bones the movie sucks balls Yep, that was pretty much my take on it, too. The script was godawful, and the story arc was as predictable as the sunrise. ---
**Author:** ![Peanut\_Gallery](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/838e76/32.png) [@Peanut\_Gallery](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peanut_Gallery)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2009, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tonights-movie-choice-defiance-or-taken/484757/8 "2009-02-07T01:46:35Z")
> [@mhendo](#): > > Yep, that was pretty much my take on it, too. The script was godawful, and the story arc was as predictable as the sunrise. x3 The first 30 minutes was boring as shit, and the rest wasn’t much to speak of. Liam’s got a mean karate chop to the throat though. ---
**Author:** ![WormTheRed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/bbe5ce/32.png) [@WormTheRed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WormTheRed)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2009, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tonights-movie-choice-defiance-or-taken/484757/9 "2009-02-07T02:20:58Z")
Hey, common! I got dragged to “Taken” by my friend and his gf and she liked it. And we liked the kick-ass scenes. ---
**Author:** ![Moirai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2009, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tonights-movie-choice-defiance-or-taken/484757/10 "2009-02-07T05:30:28Z")
We went with **Taken** and it didn’t disappoint. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2009, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tonights-movie-choice-defiance-or-taken/484757/11 "2009-02-07T12:59:40Z")
> [@EJsGirl](#): > > We went with **Taken** and it didn’t disappoint. > > 🆒 You mean regarding your money? I was gone last night seeing 3 movies of my own, but I would have told you to see **Defiance**. Far from being “cringe-worthy” or “embarrassing” it was riveting, and wasn’t just Oscar bait. It had me sobbing at points, especially knowing it was a [true story](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bielski_partisans), a story that’s never been told (on film), that most people don’t know about, and that more people should know about. Even knowing that some details would be changed and left out, and the more controversial aspects of what the brothers did were toned down, the basic facts are true, and boy, what an amazing story! Zwick-directed aside, t’s not a big “Oscar” movie, but it’s kind of sad that it didn’t get more attention in some way. I don’t know in what way, but it’s sad to see it just die, and then be ridiculed such as has happened in this thread. ---
**Author:** ![Moirai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2009, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tonights-movie-choice-defiance-or-taken/484757/12 "2009-02-07T15:08:57Z")
I don’t think it’s been ridiculed, but it has definitely gotten mixed reviews in general. We’ll still see it, along with several others. **Taken** was straight-forward, popcorn action, and Jason Bourne’s grandpa kicked ass. 😉