20 Action Movies From The 21st Century That Didn't Actually Suck
16. Taken (2008)
Liam Neeson initially expected Taken to be released straight-to-video, but instead the movie unexpectedly turned the Irish actor into one of Hollywood's premier action stars. Earning over $225m on a budget of just $25m, Pierre Morel's violent genre flick also went on to spawn a franchise, which unfortunately resulted in two awful PG-13 sequels.
Admittedly, the movie doesn't have the greatest first act; Neeson often hilariously struggles maintaining his already-questionable American accent, the supporting characters are paper-thin (estranged ex-wife, rich new husband, ex-CIA buddies that come over for beer and BBQ) and the dialogue is pretty laughable. However, everything changes once we get to 'The Phonecall'.
After promising that he will look for, find and kill the men who kidnapped his daughter, Bryan Mills does just that; utilising his particular set skills, the instant frontrunner for 'Dad of the Year' goes on a throat-punching rampage, leaving trails of generic Eastern European bad guys in his wake and even shooting an innocent woman for good measure in an old-school actioner that would go on to inadvertently create the 'geri-action' sub-genre.