Taken, also known as 96 Hours is a 2008 French thriller film co-written and produced by Luc Besson, starring Liam Neeson, Maggie Grace and Famke Janssen. The screenplay was written by Besson and Robert Mark Kamen, and directed by Pierre Morel. Neeson plays a former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) operative who sets about tracking down his daughter after she is kidnapped by human traffickers while travelling in France. The sequel, Taken 2, was released on 3 October 2012.

Despite receiving mixed reviews, Taken has generated a strong cult following since its 2008 release, and numerous media outlets have cited the film as a turning point in Neeson's career that redefined the actor as a successful action film star.

Taken received mixed reviews from critics. Rotten Tomatoes gave the film a score of 58% based on reviews from 168 critics and reports a rating average of 5.8 out of 10, with the reported consensus: "Taken is undeniably fun with slick action, but is largely a brainless exercise." At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average score out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the film received an average score of 50 based on 31 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

Time said the movie "has nothing more on its mind than dozens of bad guys getting beat up and another one turned into instant roadkill." The Washington Post described the film as "a satisfying as grimly professional as its efficient hero" and likened the action to the Jason Bourne series. needed Variety described the film as a "kick ass, pedal-to-the-metal actioner that wisely doesn't give the viewer any time to ponder the string of unlikely coincidences the film has the forward, devil-may-care momentum of a Bond film on steroids."

The Los Angeles Times described "the premise of 'Taken,' a brisk and violent action programmer that can't help being unintentionally silly at times Obviously, 'Taken' is not the kind of action film to spend much time worrying about its pedestrian script or largely indifferent acting, so it's fortunate to have Neeson in the starring role." Bryan Mills is characterised as "relentless attack machine who is impervious to fists, bullets and fast-moving cars, he uses a variety of martial skills to knock out more opponents than Mike Tyson and casually kill those he doesn't KO."