Movie Review: Taken 2
After watching Taken in 2009, I was left completely satisfied. I was thoroughly entertained and the film wrapped up with an acceptable conclusion; one that didn’t really lend itself to a sequel. Fast forward to 2012 and we’re given Taken 2. This time, the father of one of the men ex-CIA agent Bryan Mills (Liam Neeson) killed during the rescue of his kidnapped daughter, is out for revenge.
Taken 2 starts off with the bodies of the men who got in Neeson’s way in the first film arriving in Albania for burial. It’s at their grave sites that Murad Krasniqi (Rade Serbedzija) vows revenge. His plan is to abduct Neeson in Istanbul and exact his revenge. It just so happens that Neeson’s character brought along daughter Kim (Maggie Grace) and ex-wife Lenore (Famke Janssen) along for the ride, which of course means they’re all targets. This is all explained in the first third of the movie, and compared to the almost non-stop action of the other two-thirds of the movie, the opening exposition comes off as tedious. Fans of the first movie know what’s about to happen, and I’m guessing that the reason they’re watching Taken 2 is because that want to see Neeson kick some more ass.
Knowing this, the director should have really sped this portion up to get to the goods. When the goods finally come, and trust me they do, the problem is Taken 2 just doesn’t seem as much fun as its predecessor. In the first film, Neeson had to find his missing daughter and his quest was the most fun part of the movie. In Taken 2, we know where all the major characters are and there’s no real sense of danger or uncertainty. I never feared for any of the heroes. I just felt that no matter what, everything would be fine. Because I had that feeling no matter how dire the situation looked, Taken 2 felt like a by-the-numbers action thriller.
The good news is, with the exception of some extremely groan-worthy action sequences (think grenades in public settings), the action aspect of this movie was extremely entertaining. Also, there is a car chase sequence in the middle of the movie that rivals any I’ve seen in recent memory. This makes sense considering Taken 2’s director was also responsible for Transporter 3. A quick word of warning for parents regarding the film’s content though; Taken 2 pushes the boundaries of its PG-13 rating. If they added a bit more blood during the killing spree Neeson went on, it could have easily received an R-rating. In general, I have no idea how either Taken movie was able to stay within the confines of a PG-13 rating.
I was willing to forgive any misgivings I had about the film’s plot and some of the directions screenwriters Luc Besson and Robert Mark Kamen took with their characters because those two are responsible in some way for several of my favorite movies, but they completely lost me during the final act of the movie. That final 15 minutes completely soured me on Taken 2 and almost soured me on the original. One of the scenes I blame on the director, but the rest is all in the writing. Shame on you guys.
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