âTakenâ: What is the movie police said Carlee Russell searched?
Hoover Police’s press conference on Wednesday shared details surrounding the disappearance of Carlee Russell, including what they found she had searched for on the internet in the days before she vanished. Along with keywords related to Amber Alert and bus stations, police said Russell searched a movie title.
At 12:10 p.m. on the day of her disappearance, Russell did a search for the movie “Taken.”
Russell, a 25-year-old nursing student with a college degree in psychology, vanished Thursday, July 13, after calling 911 and her brother’s girlfriend to say she was stopping on Interstate 459. During a 911 call to police, Russell said she was checking on a toddler she said she spotted walking along the interstate wearing only a white T-shirt and a diaper.
After two days of fear and frantic searches, Russell showed up at her family’s Hoover home on Saturday, July 15. Ring camera video from neighbors showed Russell walking down the sidewalk alone before she got to house where she lives with her parents and banging on the front door.
READ: What else did Carlee Russell search for on her phone before she disappeared?
What is ‘Taken’?
So, what is “Taken?” Most casual movie fans will know the Liam Neeson thriller, which grossed $226 million worldwide, spawned a franchise with multiple sequels and established the actor as an action movie icon for years to come.
The film released in January 2008 follows retired CIA agent Bryan Mills (played by Neeson), who tracks down his teenage daughter Kim (Maggie Grace) and her best friend after the two girls are kidnapped by Albanian human traffickers while traveling in France during a vacation.
It earned mixed reviews from critics, including a 56% score on Rotten Tomatoes. The consensus reads: “Taken is undeniably fun with slick action, but is largely a brainless exercise.” But it was a box office hit and quickly became a fan favorite both in theaters and when it hit DVD and Blu-ray.
Written and produced by famed action filmmaker Luc Besson and directed by Pierre Morel, the movie is perhaps best known for Neeson’s monologue while on the phone with one of his daughter’s abductors:
“I don’t know who you are. I don’t know what you want. If you are looking for ransom, I can tell you I don’t have money. But what I do have are a very particular set of skills, skills I have acquired over a very long career. Skills that make me a nightmare for people like you. If you let my daughter go now, that’ll be the end of it. I will not look for you, I will not pursue you. But if you don’t, I will look for you, I will find you, and I will kill you.”
Neeson’s career wasn’t so much relaunched as it was reborn, earning him the title of world’s coolest action star — and at age 56, no less. It would spawn a few sequels and a series of similar beat-’em-up B-movie paychecks like “Unknown,” “The Grey,” “Non-Stop,” “A Walk Among the Tombstones” and “Run All Night.”
“Taken” is currently streaming online via Starz subscription, or if you have a premium subscription on YouTube, Hulu, The Roku Channel, Sling TV, Amazon Prime or Philo. You can also rent or purchase the film on Apple TV, Google Play or Vudu.