Buy it... if you are among the few who consider this score to have a positive impact on the film and seek its reliably predictable application of electronic and symphonic elements to each scene without much creative deviation.

Avoid it... if you expect a composer to aggressively enhance a film rather than cautiously keep out of its way, a strange result for Nathaniel Mechaly in his international breakthrough score.

Taken: (Nathaniel Mechaly) The lesson to be learned for studios about the thriller Taken is that you can earn hundreds of millions of dollars despite a derivative plot full of senseless violence and obvious racism if you have a lead actor who can deliver a single line so well that you can base your entire marketing campaign around it. The 2008 continuation of the Pierre Morel/Luc Besson directing, producing, and writing collaboration (released in America in early 2009) stars Liam Neeson as a retired CIA operative whose daughter is kidnapped while vacationing with another teenage friend in Paris. During the abduction, the girl calls her father and gives him enough information to launch an investigation and ruthless pursuit of the criminals. Neeson's compelling performance of the line to the kidnapper on the phone, "I will look for you, I will find you, and I will kill you" (followed by a "Good Luck" from the Parisian end) was made into the centerpiece of Fox's marketing campaign for Taken. What those teasers didn't make clear was that the film overall is tremendously racist in its depiction of both Eastern Europeans and Arabs, a characteristic not lost on critics who gave the film decidedly mixed reviews. Needless to say, Neeson is shown brutally executing everyone in his path, Besson's trademark carefree action style whipped into a nonstop frenzy after half an hour of setup. The fact that these many action sequences feature absolutely no unique inspiration may have influenced the score for Taken, an equally drab and predictable contribution to the film. Unfortunately, it was an enormous opportunity lost for French composer Nathaniel Mechaly; after spending the majority of the 2000's toiling music for French television and short films, Taken represented the major international break for the student of Gabriel Yared. His better-known scores for cinema over the latter half of the decade are represented by a dominating electronic and percussive style, sometimes crossing over into the straight rock genre. Undoubtedly, Taken was a likely candidate to receive such kick-ass synthetic attitude, especially if it could blend that sound with the depth of either an orchestral ensemble or notable solos to provide warmth for the lead characters. Mechaly seems to have tried to accomplish this balance, but his execution of it is so poorly done and lacking in energy and interesting constructs that he ends up achieving none of these goals in this rather dull result.

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A film that could have benefitted from a score with a dynamic personality instead gets redundant table scraps from dozens of other, far more engaging thriller soundtracks. What's odd about Mechaly's take on Taken is just how lifeless and procedural the music turned out to be. The foundation of the score seems fine, with each scene treated to a tone appropriate emotionally, but how Mechaly assigns his motifs and instruments is so lackluster that he can't help but detract from an otherwise truly edgy script. All of the aforementioned elements are present: an array of synthetic samples and manipulation, interludes of pounding rock band sounds, a limited orchestral ensemble, and solos for attachment that include piano and acoustic guitar. They alternate depending upon circumstance, never layered to intelligently represent the combination of fatherly love and cold-blooded assassinations. A cue with obnoxious synthetic loops and insufferable manipulation of the mix (it's a tragedy that up and coming composers still think that such techniques are "cool"), like "Escape From St. Clair," can be followed by "Hotel Camelia," a straight-forward orchestral cue led by elegant piano with no distortion applied in post-production. Alone, these disparate forces are completely generic, yielding nothing worth remembering after the score has concluded. Thematically, Mechaly suggests some ideas in the first three cues ("Permission to Go to Paris" and "To the Airport" establish minimal warmth) and continues to explore them in two or three later cues of softer intent. None of these motifs, unfortunately, is performed with enough enunciation to be recalled because of their progressions rather than simply the instrumentation. The chase cues are a sadly derivative remnant of perhaps a John Powell temp track, but without the same consistent flow of energy. The narrative of the score is disappointing, ending without any sense of climax or resolution. The mix of the recording for Taken is questionable in parts, even aside from the annoying tone of some of the sound effects (like the tearing metal and crying seagulls in "The Auction"). Gain levels are pushed to the max at times, seemingly intentionally causing distortion (most notably at the end of "96 Hours"). The album includes three songs that are far more interesting that Mechaly's original score, which only runs a little over half an hour by itself. Handling films like this with primarily textural shades is fine, but those textures better be damn good. The ones here aren't, and let's hope that the sequel scheduled by Fox for Taken inspires its composer to aggressively enhance the film rather than cautiously keep out of its way. **   Amazon.com Price Hunt: CD or Download