Taken Trilogy (2008-2014)
The original is among the strongest compressed action thrillers of its decade. Sequels decline predictably.
Director: Pierre Morel
Pierre Morel worked as a cinematographer for Luc Besson before directing District 13, a parkour action film that used the discipline before Hollywood discovered it.
Taken is the one that mattered. Made cheaply in France with an actor nobody considered an action star, it became an enormous hit and effectively created a subgenre of older men with particular skills that is still running.
His subsequent work, From Paris with Love and The Gunman, did not repeat it, and the Besson production style he came from has been widely imitated since.
