Taken (DVD 2003)

A movie that would not condense into the length required for the big screen, Spielberg chose to produce this for TV instead. But it is no less featured than any other of his great sci-fi epics, and stands alongside the best of them.

I had seen this on TV before and, to be honest, found it quite slow starting. I did not quite concentrate on the subtlety of the plot, because I did not realise where it was going. I found the child’s narrative in the early episodes almost irritating, because the wisdom of the words did not appear at first to match the age. But as the series went on, and each thread began to make sense, I began to realise just how powerful those early episodes really were – and how well crafted. By the time not one but two magnificent climaxes appeared, just about every thread was pulled together – and I could not wait to watch the early episodes again to see and appreciate more clearly what I had missed. Hence the purchase of the DVDs, which I would recommend to anyone.

Taken needs to be watched more than once to be fully appreciated. Each episode more or less stands alone as a short story of real merit – with period detail (1950s to the present day) accurate even to the style of lighting used, and the colour balance characterising movies of each decade. But the whole is far more than the sum of those individual parts. The overall story must be the definitive “alien abduction” story to date – so much grounding in history, making it “believable” in so many ways.

If you like sci-fi that’s more than just kid’s stuff, give this a go!