With a score of 23% on Rotten Tomatoes, Jason’s estimate wasn’t too far off… Taken 2 is far from being a rememberable movie. Liam Neeson’s performance is stale, the plot line is stale and the car chases are…you guessed it, stale. The plot follows a similar event development as the first film in which Bryan Mills’ daughter was kidnapped and sex trafficked. This time the relatives of which Mills’ killed are out for revenge and do so by ambushing Bryan and his family in Istanbul.
Maggie Grace (Bryan’s daughter) and Famke Janssen (Ex-wife) play a more prominent part in this sequel, creating a better sense of Bryan’s personal affairs. This adds to his already developed character.Although can anyone take a 60 year old man who is looking past it seriously? Managing to fight off and out run multiple henchmen is taking the “suspend your disbelief” idea too far. Not to mention the teen daughter managing to drive like she’s in the Italian Job…
With a 12A rating, opposed to Taken’s 15, Taken 2 feels a lot less gritty and a lot less substantial. The quick editing cutaways used to dodge any strong violence or blood shown simply takes away everything we loved from the first film. Taken 2 is simply a dull experience that deserved only to go straight to DvD.
