Thanks to Liam Neeson in Taken, parents now have a lot to live up to when it comes to protecting their child. While Netflix’s latest hit may take a less action-packed approach to proceedings, it’s apparently no less gripping, as this unknown mystery thriller has suddenly found success on the streamer and is quickly climbing the charts.
But while there might be fewer shoot-outs, the thriller does have several similarities with Neeson’s action movie magnum opus. First off is the title, Taken in Plain Sight, which picks up with a mother following a yearlong investigation into her daughter’s disappearance. Dismissed by the authorities, she decides to take matters into her own hands.
Directed by Cat Hostick (Murdoch Mysteries, Poly is the New Monogamy) and starring Tennille Read, Steven Yaffee, Allegra Fulton, Sameer Jafar, Jim Codrington, KJ Romani, Stella Acquisto, Samy Osman, Birgitte Solem, James Madge, Mylene Carino, Jonathon LeRose, and Elodie Gahan, Taken in Plain Sight has managed to crash into the Netflix Top 10 at eight, falling just behind the likes of the young adult dystopian outing The Maze Runner and its sequel Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials, the documentary My Father, the BTK Killer, the animated smash-hit KPop Demon Hunters, and the Keira Knightley-led thriller The Woman in Cabin 10, among others. You can check out the official synopsis for Taken in Plain Sight below…
After months of tireless investigation, Abby becomes convinced that she’s found her daughter’s abductor. When authorities dismiss her claim, she takes matters into her own hands, setting in motion a chain of events that reveal the shocking truth.
Is ‘Taken in Plain Sight’ Worth Streaming?
While many Netflix viewers have already been drawn into the classically intriguing premise of a missing child and the parent who will stop at nothing to find them, eager to discover the inevitable twists and turns along the way, is Taken in Plain Sight worth checking out?
Well, it depends on your feelings towards Hallmark movies. Because this is one. While the thriller offering has a not-quite-disastrous rating of 6.1 among users on IMDb, the few audience reviews that have emerged on Rotten Tomatoes are pretty brutal. “Horrible movie. Wasted 90 minutes,” said one user on the review aggregator site alongside a savage score of just half a star out of five. Meanwhile, in their review, another user concludes that Taken in Plain Sight “isn’t fit for background noise.” Ouch.
But it’s not all bad! “It’s OK. Nothing really new here. You’ve seen this plot before,” says this more positive reaction, adding, “Compelling enough however to keep me watching until the end.” So, if you fancy a twisty-turny thriller that won’t change your life but will provide the sort of entertainment we all occasionally seek from a trashy holiday novel, then Taken in Plain Sight might just be what you’re looking for. But it begs the question of why the 2024 movie has so suddenly found itself in the Netflix chart? Perhaps Taken fans were looking for the action thriller and thought this was a spin-off…
- Release Date
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September 22, 2024
- Runtime
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82 minutes
- Director
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Cat Hostick
- Writers
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Ken Miyamoto