Taken 2

Starring: Liam Neeson, Maggie Grace, Famke Janssen, Rade Serbedzija, Leland Orser, D.B. Sweeney
Directed by: Olivier Megaton
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Action, Drama, Thriller
2012

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: Bryan Mills (Liam Neeson) and his ex-wife (Famke Janssen) are kidnapped by the father (Rade Serbedzija) of the kidnapper who Mills killed when his daughter (Maggie Grace) was abducted.

Review:

Tim: I was surprised that I liked Taken more than I thought I would (but not quite as much as many other people did). It was a solid, exciting action movie. When I heard they were making the sequel, my initial reaction was skepticism. The story worked once, but how could they make it work a second time? Unexpectedly, I felt like the basic story worked quite well- last time we saw Bryan Mills, he was brutally killing a number of people in an effort to rescue his kidnapped daughter. Here, we see some of those murdered people's families now out for vengeance. This actually makes sense- Mills killed a lot of bad people, and it stands to reason that some of their families would want revenge against the man who killed their sons. So, I was tracking with the premise's logic of why this movie even needed to exist.

Now that Taken 2 overcame that huge initial hurdle, we should be in the clear, right? Unfortunately, there were other concerns. My biggest complaint about the original film is that the scenes when Liam Neeson was hanging out as a father and regular guy- especially those with his daughter- felt forced and unrealistic. I never believed him in that role. He felt a bit too wooden to me, and therefore, I didn't develop enough of an emotional connection to him. In this film, Neeson is much more at ease with both Maggie Grace and Famke Janssen. I felt at least some familiarity between them, which led credibility to the whole film. It felt like they might have actually been a family.

So, after handling my two biggest concerns, you might expect that this movie would be brilliant. Unfortunately, it suffers from quite a number of new flaws. The whole story felt like a string of implausible events, one after another. The original story felt rooted in realism. Of course, it required some suspension of disbelief, because it's unlikely Neeson could have tracked his daughter down so quickly and efficiently. This film, however, loses that grip on reality. We watch Neeson's daughter set off grenades all over Turkey (with no repercussions), we see Neeson track his location by sound, and then retrace his steps (luckily for him, the same person was playing the same instrument much later, and the same dog was barking). We also see Neeson's daughter (who doesn't have her driver's license) manage to evade police in a car chase that a stunt driver would have a hard time pulling off. I have no idea why the script abandoned most of its logic, but I found myself criticizing the story almost continually and saying to myself, "That could never happen." That's a real shame, and is the biggest reason why this movie dropped significantly in quality from the first one.

The cast was probably my favorite part, and it was legitimately fun to reconnect with these characters. I like Neeson, and it's fun seeing him in this serious role. He is a little older than the last time, and the action scenes weren't shot the same way, so I had a more difficult time believing him as this action hero. However, he still manages to be likable and someone we can root for. I also like Famke Janssen, and was glad she was back for this film. Unfortunately, she spent the majority of the movie unconscious (seriously, it was a little odd). I also like Maggie Grace, and while I have a hard time believing she's as young as portrayed in this film, still worked fairly well. Rade Serbedzija was a nice addition to the cast as the main villain.

I'm probably being too kind to Taken 2, but there was some goodwill built up after the first film. It was fun to reconnect with these characters, and I still like the explanation for the story and how that unfolded. Unfortunately, it's the plot holes, gaps in logic, and utter ridiculousness of many events that completely sink this film. It's far too forgettable, and not nearly as good as the original movie. While I did not hate this film, it didn't give me much hope about a third film. I'm feeling like this story should end here.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating- 6.5



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: Taken, Unknown, Ransom, Frantic, Panic Room, Man on Fire