Taken really came out of nowhere. Liam Neeson has played kick-ass characters before, but his performance as Bryan Mills was probably his most kick-ass yet, and much of that can be attributed to kick-ass writing by Robert Mark Kamen, who has been responsible for kick-ass flicks like The Karate Kid and The Transporter. Now, changing gears a bit, Kamen plans to bring back the family epic.
According to Variety, CBS Films (honestly didn’t even know that was a studio) has preemptively acquired Kamen’s Vengeance, an action pitch about Italian 20-somethings that Kamen describes as “a contemporary revenge love story.” He compares the film to The Godfather, saying that it echoes that film's themes of family pride and debt.
If Kamen can write something even three quarters as good as Taken, then he may be onto something, but comparing his piece to The Godfather right out of the gate already puts him at a disadvantage. Let’s hope he drops the reference and continues writing kick-ass screenplays.
