Tarrador's "Netflix Movies 2009"

Liam Neeson’s foray into spy-action-adventure was everything it was advertise to be… and no more. There is a seemingly single minded attitude in movies that the best way a dad can show his love for his daughter is by blasting away with a shotgun at anyone who may threaten her little girl image or virginity. The overwhelming violence through which Neeson’s character trudged to save his daughter from (gasp) white slavers intent on selling her precious virginity to sweaty dark skinned Arabs became so grim as to take on a pathalogical aspect. Is this the only way men today can relate to being good dads to young women in need of strong male role models? The extent of believabilty that gets stretched in this film, just to create the circumstances under which Liam’s killer-under-control character gets unleashed, is pretty extreme. Given the completely convoluted and unlikely scenarios set up for him, what choice did this guy have but to wade in, grim and Schwarzenegger-like, to rescue his baby girl from a fate worse than prom night? There is enough possesive intensity in Liam’s pursuit of his kidnapped daughter to make Nabokov wince, but it all turns out okay when after a blood splattering climax the girl has a newfound respect and appreciation for dear old dad. And isn’t that all dads want, anyway?