Taken 2: NR #26

This was one of most anticipated and dreaded films of this year. I loved the first Taken, it was simple, stupid, yet incredibly fun and entertaining. It also introduced me and many other teens to Liam Neeson. Now four years later and we have the sequel. Can an inventive concept and an actor keep this sequel a float? Let's find out in my review of...

 Let's Begin

PLOT

As we all know, Liam Nees- I mean Bryan Mills, killed a TON of people in the last film. Well the extended families of those henchmen are pissed. They now have one mission, kill Mills. So what do they do? They kidnap him and his ex-wife while they're in Istanbul and attempt to kidnap his daughter. Bryan must now direct his daughter to find him, free him, and get revenge of those who've taken his family.

PROS

I laughed at a couple of points...at unintentionally funny points.... that's the nicest thing I can say...

CONS

Let's review on what made "Taken" great. It had a simple yet effective plot, the villains were truly evil, Liam Neeson still had moves and killed/maimed people in awesome ways, and while it had its stupid moments, it was still fun. "Taken 2" doesn't get it.

The plot is creative and could have been interesting, but the families just become generic Middle Eastern villains and that setup never goes anywhere.

The film's logic is so stupid, a person who's never been out side their home would say it doesn't make sense. Example: Neeson is directing his daughter on how to find him. He uses ways that don't make sense, but I can suspend my disbelief. Then, he tells her to throw a grenade in a random direction so he can use it as echo location... if you can't find what's wrong with that logic, than you need more help than I can give.

The action scenes in the first "Taken", while not perfectly shot, you could still tell what's going on. Here, I had so many points after Neeson fought someone that I went "WHAT?!?!" The camera is set on everyone's chest in extreme close-ups that you can never tell what's going on.

The ex-wife is one of the most useless characters in film history. She literally adds nothing to the plot and could have been edited out of the film entirely.

I would complain that Neeson wasn't in there enough, but when he finally gets his badass moment, it was boring and predictable. You sit there for the first hour or so wanting Neeson to do something, but instead you get him yelling directions at his daughter, and I already explained what happens after that hour or so.

CONCLUSION

This is the definition of a cash-grab. It adds nothing to story, makes little sense, and probably would've gone straight to DVD if Liam Neeson hadn't come back. While not the worst movie I've ever seen, it has nothing that deserves your time and money. Go see "Looper" or "Hotel Transylvania" instead.

RATING

RUN AWAY!