Quoting Allie "Some people say..." it was great, and some people say it was terrible. I'll try to be objective: It is not great and it is not terrible either.
The story is clearly divided into 2 parts: The first 5 episodes go through 5 decades jumping over years. You see a child character and in the next episode that character is already an adult. The last 5 episodes go in present time and each one takes one day or two. This means a VERY drastic pace change for the audience. It felt like going in your car at 120 and suddenly going at 30. The first half starts very interesting but it grows boring and when it's almost dead the story jumps to the second half where outstanding things start to happen. This is basically because each half is based on a single character. The first half is based on Owen Crawford (Joel Gretsch), the army officer who starts the UFO investigation in Roswell. The second half is based on Allison "Allie" Clarke (Dakota Fanning), the great granddaughter of the only alien survivor of that Roswell crash. These 2 cornerstones are obvious because they were the most developed characters and both actors were IMPRESSIVE. However, I must admit both characters were also very cartoonish, they were either 100% good or 100% evil!
Why the first half turns boring? Because Owen Crawford disappears. When it happens the story becomes weak and you pray for something to fill that empty space. Sadly, from that moment, it takes about 2 more episodes for Allie to show up and restore the energy... Why to depend on these 2 characters only? Why didn't they develop other characters as well? There were a couple of good performances: Ryan Hurst, Anton Yelchin and Desmond Harrington; but the other actors, especially Heather Donahue, were just forgettable. Matt Frewer was particularly annoying too.
Even while the most awesome events happen in the second half, at the expense of Allie, awesome events doesn't mean interesting story. The first half is more mysterious and twisted, even scary; while the second half has too much padding and drags on forever. Also there were many implausible things. For example, we are supposed to believe the Crawfords is a family of not only ambitious people but also killers! 3 generations of killers? And a military secret investigation stays in the family and goes from one generation to the other even though only one member of the family was in the army? There is an episode about a hostage situation and someone got shot, then the armed guy is NOT arrested and everything goes as if nothing had happened! Those are just a couple of examples.
But all the flaws are compensated with other things, especially with the aforementioned Joel Gretsch and Dakota Fanning. There are several touching moments you will love. There are some profound messages. There are good special effects and all the hard work with wardrobe and setting of the past years is outstanding. Also they made a really neat job aging characters. However, in some cases the casting was terrible for the child/adult switch: Physically, Mary Crawford adult is not a single bit similar to the child she was, and the same goes for other characters.
The ending could have been A LOT better too. As a matter of fact, the last episode is the weakest and leaves you in anger. I can take a sad finale any day but this one was dull and frustrating. All in all I am not disappointed and I recommend this mini series. Even though the story drags on sometimes you will be hooked, and you will probably forgive the flaws as I did.
Taken is entertaining and enjoyable. If you like drama and sci-fi mixed together there is no doubt this one is for you.
The story is clearly divided into 2 parts: The first 5 episodes go through 5 decades jumping over years. You see a child character and in the next episode that character is already an adult. The last 5 episodes go in present time and each one takes one day or two. This means a VERY drastic pace change for the audience. It felt like going in your car at 120 and suddenly going at 30. The first half starts very interesting but it grows boring and when it's almost dead the story jumps to the second half where outstanding things start to happen. This is basically because each half is based on a single character. The first half is based on Owen Crawford (Joel Gretsch), the army officer who starts the UFO investigation in Roswell. The second half is based on Allison "Allie" Clarke (Dakota Fanning), the great granddaughter of the only alien survivor of that Roswell crash. These 2 cornerstones are obvious because they were the most developed characters and both actors were IMPRESSIVE. However, I must admit both characters were also very cartoonish, they were either 100% good or 100% evil!
Why the first half turns boring? Because Owen Crawford disappears. When it happens the story becomes weak and you pray for something to fill that empty space. Sadly, from that moment, it takes about 2 more episodes for Allie to show up and restore the energy... Why to depend on these 2 characters only? Why didn't they develop other characters as well? There were a couple of good performances: Ryan Hurst, Anton Yelchin and Desmond Harrington; but the other actors, especially Heather Donahue, were just forgettable. Matt Frewer was particularly annoying too.
Even while the most awesome events happen in the second half, at the expense of Allie, awesome events doesn't mean interesting story. The first half is more mysterious and twisted, even scary; while the second half has too much padding and drags on forever. Also there were many implausible things. For example, we are supposed to believe the Crawfords is a family of not only ambitious people but also killers! 3 generations of killers? And a military secret investigation stays in the family and goes from one generation to the other even though only one member of the family was in the army? There is an episode about a hostage situation and someone got shot, then the armed guy is NOT arrested and everything goes as if nothing had happened! Those are just a couple of examples.
But all the flaws are compensated with other things, especially with the aforementioned Joel Gretsch and Dakota Fanning. There are several touching moments you will love. There are some profound messages. There are good special effects and all the hard work with wardrobe and setting of the past years is outstanding. Also they made a really neat job aging characters. However, in some cases the casting was terrible for the child/adult switch: Physically, Mary Crawford adult is not a single bit similar to the child she was, and the same goes for other characters.
The ending could have been A LOT better too. As a matter of fact, the last episode is the weakest and leaves you in anger. I can take a sad finale any day but this one was dull and frustrating. All in all I am not disappointed and I recommend this mini series. Even though the story drags on sometimes you will be hooked, and you will probably forgive the flaws as I did.
Taken is entertaining and enjoyable. If you like drama and sci-fi mixed together there is no doubt this one is for you.