← Back to Reviews
in
TAKEN 2
A sequel to the 2008 hit, Taken 2 is a solid action thriller that meets and surpasses most of my requirements for a good sequel (see my review of The Dark Knight Rises) and kept me on the edge of my seat for the entire running time.
This 2012 film re-introduces us to Bryan Mills (Liam Neeson), a divorced former CIA agent with an almost grown daughter, who though retired from the agency, still does freelance security work. In this film, Mills has completed an assignment in Istanbul and his ex-wife (Famke Janssen) and daughter (Maggie Grace) join him there for some R & R. Unfortunately, Bryan and his ex get kidnapped by an Albanian nationalist (Rade Sherbedgia) whose son was murdered by Bryan during his mission to save his kidnapped daughter in the first film.
I love the way this sequel unfolds, re-introducing this family that we met in the first film without re-hashing events from the first film. Luc Bresson and Robert Mark Kamen's screenplay cleverly establishes the kind of man the central character is when he learns his daughter has a new boyfriend (Luke Grimes) and he is warned by both his ex and his daughter to leave the guy alone and not conduct a background check on him, a warning that Bryan ignores. Of course, anyone who saw the first film can hardly blame him.
As a former CIA agent, we learned in the first film that Bryan has a very specific skill set that was instrumental in rescuing his daughter, but here we are refreshingly introduced to some different skills not utilized in the first film. I loved as Bryan and his ex were being abducted in a van the way he was counting the seconds they spent on a street before turning and then memorizing sounds that he was hearing during the ride. It was absolutely fascinating watching the way he used this very specific information to help his daughter figure out exactly where her parents were being taken.
I have to admit to chuckling every time Bryan would give his ex or his daughter any kind of instructions and they would initiate some kind of discussion or argument about it. It would seem that after everything that happened in the first film, these two ladies would trust Bryan's instincts about danger, shut up, and do what they're told.
Director Olivier Megaton displays a knack for mounting viable action sequences and is aided by a first rate production team. There is some dizzying camerawork and the film editing is nothing short of superb. Neesom, Janssen, and Grace create a family that we have come to care about and even though we know that somehow they are going to survive, we are still fascinated to see exactly how it's going to happen. I must also applaud the director and screenwriters, who in an attempt to make a bigger and better sequel, didn't feel the need to give us a four hour film. The running times for the first film and this one are practically identical...fabulous. And yes, there is a Taken 3.
A sequel to the 2008 hit, Taken 2 is a solid action thriller that meets and surpasses most of my requirements for a good sequel (see my review of The Dark Knight Rises) and kept me on the edge of my seat for the entire running time.
This 2012 film re-introduces us to Bryan Mills (Liam Neeson), a divorced former CIA agent with an almost grown daughter, who though retired from the agency, still does freelance security work. In this film, Mills has completed an assignment in Istanbul and his ex-wife (Famke Janssen) and daughter (Maggie Grace) join him there for some R & R. Unfortunately, Bryan and his ex get kidnapped by an Albanian nationalist (Rade Sherbedgia) whose son was murdered by Bryan during his mission to save his kidnapped daughter in the first film.
I love the way this sequel unfolds, re-introducing this family that we met in the first film without re-hashing events from the first film. Luc Bresson and Robert Mark Kamen's screenplay cleverly establishes the kind of man the central character is when he learns his daughter has a new boyfriend (Luke Grimes) and he is warned by both his ex and his daughter to leave the guy alone and not conduct a background check on him, a warning that Bryan ignores. Of course, anyone who saw the first film can hardly blame him.
As a former CIA agent, we learned in the first film that Bryan has a very specific skill set that was instrumental in rescuing his daughter, but here we are refreshingly introduced to some different skills not utilized in the first film. I loved as Bryan and his ex were being abducted in a van the way he was counting the seconds they spent on a street before turning and then memorizing sounds that he was hearing during the ride. It was absolutely fascinating watching the way he used this very specific information to help his daughter figure out exactly where her parents were being taken.
I have to admit to chuckling every time Bryan would give his ex or his daughter any kind of instructions and they would initiate some kind of discussion or argument about it. It would seem that after everything that happened in the first film, these two ladies would trust Bryan's instincts about danger, shut up, and do what they're told.
Director Olivier Megaton displays a knack for mounting viable action sequences and is aided by a first rate production team. There is some dizzying camerawork and the film editing is nothing short of superb. Neesom, Janssen, and Grace create a family that we have come to care about and even though we know that somehow they are going to survive, we are still fascinated to see exactly how it's going to happen. I must also applaud the director and screenwriters, who in an attempt to make a bigger and better sequel, didn't feel the need to give us a four hour film. The running times for the first film and this one are practically identical...fabulous. And yes, there is a Taken 3.