When her daughter is kidnapped in Belize and held hostage to be used for human organ trafficking, Kate Johnson goes on a crusade to infiltrate the cartel and rescue her. Kate Johnson is a single mother and a successful undercover detective. When her daughter, Nina, goes to Punta Dia in Belize to help with the local orphanage, she is kidnapped by the cartel organization "La Muerte Roja". Kate, not trusting the local government, takes it upon herself to travel to Belize to find her missing daughter. While there, Kate meets with Francisco Orizaga, an ex-marine who agrees to help. As Kate investigates into Nina's disappearance, she discovers just how strong La Muerte Roja's influence is in Punta Dia. Her questions are met with silence and looks of fear from the locals, with only a few willing to talk about the rumors of the cartel's organ trafficking business. Now, it's a race against time as Kate struggles to find Nina before Nina might become La Muerte Roja's next victim. Canadian actress Gina Holden is both gorgeous and game, but neither quality will suffice to save this sodden, dull, misfit of a film.<br/><br/>From a production company that almost single-handedly manages to commoditize B-movies as if they came off a conveyor belt (Jeepers Creepers 3, Nightmare Nurse) we have something which, once upon a time, scrawled on a napkin in the back of a bar, must have seemed really clever.<br/><br/>"Let's do a version of Taken with a female lead!" someone said, then someone else agreed, then a third person raised the cash … and here we are.<br/><br/>The best sequence is the first 4 minutes, which does a pretty good job of establishing Holden's character as a tough female cop who is not afraid of violence.<br/><br/>Would that we could say the same about the screenwriters, because, after that solid opening, the film chugs along for almost a full hour before we see even a hint of action; and when we finally do, it is too little, too late.<br/><br/>Recommended? No, thank you. In this case the reference to 'Taken' in the title of the film obviously refers to the fact that the viewer has been taken for a ride. Plenty of ham acting, but little action and while the heroine does her best with the weak script, she was given little opportunity to demonstrate her competency. In fact, towards the end of the film when some action finally hits the screen, she constantly gets caught and her firearm is easily and regularly confiscated by an unconvincing rogue. The latter comes to an unlikely end at the hands of said heroine.
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295 weeks ago