96 Hours - Taken 2

Thrilling and violent movie with a phenomenal Liam Neeson as merciless avenger father . First they took his daughter , now they're coming for him. Retired CIA operative Mills (Liam Neeson) invites his teenage daughter Kim and his ex-wife Lenore, who has separated from her second husband, to spend a couple of days in Istanbul where he is working . Meanwhile , his daughter Kim (Maggie Grace) has fallen in love with a young named Jamie (Luke Grimes, though Diego Boneta and Xavier Samuel auditioned for the role that went to Luke) . In Istanbul, Bryan Mills and his wife (Famke Janssen) are taken hostage by a kidnapper called Murad Krasniqi (Rade Sherbedgia) whose son Mills killed while rescuing his daughter, issues narrrated in the former installment . Bryan enlists his daughter to help them in getaway . Bryan swears revenge and retaliation against the kidnappers . He confronts his enemies in order to find out location his wife, and is forced to once again take up violent means to survive . He takes the law on his own hands and acting as a relentless revenger .

This stirring film contains intrigue , thrills, chills, frenetic action, shootouts and violent fights . From start to finish the noisy action and fast movement are unstopped . Liam Neeson acting as hard-rock , two-fisted retired agent is top-notch . Being well accompanied by Maggie Grace as daughter and Famke Janssen as his ex-wife , repeating efficiently their previous roles . Secondary cast is frankly good, such as Rade Sherbedgia, Jon Gries , Luke Grimes , D.B.Sweeney and Leland Orser , among others . Nice cinematography by cameraman Romain Lacourbas , using Steadicam and zooms with numerous locations from Istambul . The musician Nathaniel Mechaly creates a thrilling , moving soundtrack fitting to frantic action . Lavishly produced by the successful French producer and director Luc Besson from his production company Eurocorps . The flick was compellingly directed by Oliver Meghaton who had previously directed other nice action films, such as ¨Transporter 3¨ with Jason Statham , ¨The red siren¨ with Asia Argento and ¨Colombiana¨ with Zoe Saldana , also produced by Luc Besson . Megaton was formerly a graffiti artist and took his name from his birthday : the 6th of August 1965 is the 20th anniversary of the dropping of the Hiroshima A-bomb . Rating: Better than average sequel , well worth seeing. The picture will appeal to explosive action fans and Liam Neeson fans .

Just got back from a special advance screening of Taken 2 in London. If you enjoyed the first film, you will very much enjoy this.

What I will point out is that this is almost a parody of the first film - there are lots of in jokes, references and humor directed at the style of the first film - especially how protective Brian Mills (Liam Neeson) is of his daughter. There are lots of funny scenes involving his daughter, him and his daughter's boyfriend.

The action is there and as brutal as always. There are some great speeches and lines very similar to that famous "I will find you" speech in the first movie.

The audience I watched this with laughed a lot - this is a much more light hearted film than the first and doesn't take itself seriously which is great. As mentioned, it is more of a parody of the first film, with everything magnified by 10. It had a very similar tone to what was great about the original Bourne Trilogy.

It is everything a fan of the first film would wish for - the speeches, the action, the humour and the brutal efficiency of Liam Neeson's 'Brian Mills'.

Enjoyed this very much - a definite for fans of the first film and a must see for anyone else.

What an utter disappointment. Like many fans of the original Taken, I was looking forward to a sequel to see if it could match or in any way surpass the original. I am afraid that as as sequel I am left perplexed at the lack of any tension, real action and pace in the film. The villains were not as nasty as they should be- after all they were seeking revenge for the slaughter of friends and family and all appeared not all intimidating. There was no sharp dialogue and some scenes bordered on the risible especially when Liam Neeson was trying to give directions to his daughter on his whereabouts. The finale was rushed and overall the film lacked any bite or interest. Dull, unimaginative-only Liam Neeson kept what glimmer of hopes alive by his solid acting. However, a real shame the film could not even match or equal the original. Do not waste your time- see the original Taken and leave this sequel alone.

What can I say? It's watchable and has a lot of action, but nowhere near as good as the first in the series. The overall plot was fine, but the writing just wasn't great. Liam Neeson being the brilliant actor that he is makes it watchable.

The movie was very good and Liam Neeson is one my favourite actors. it is great that Liam Neeson visited Turkey. I am sure that he impressed very much while he was there. However I just hated director's point of view about Istanbul, and Turkey. In some scenes you see some women wearing pitch black clothes as if they live in a country governed by Islamic rules . No!!! Turkey is not like that!!! Its constitution is more democratic than many 'democratic' countries in the world. And especially women had their rights before many 'democratic' countries in the world. For example Turkish women can vote or can be elected since 1934! Just check the history. You will see Turkish women had such rights before millions of others women living in other countries. But, I do not understand why there is not any Turkish women seen in the movie. All the movie was taken in very weird and suburban areas, and you do not see any women, but the guys. This is not Iran, this is Istanbul! I am very sorry about the director's attitude and I did not like it at all.

Turkey is a secular, democratic and modern country. You can see the people with very modern looking all over the city, not ninjas! The people of Turkey do not wear such a pitch black clothes like the people living in an Islamic country. Not only the appearance, but also the thoughts are modern and contemporary in Turkey! Why did director say a big lie to the world? Is there a political reason? Should a director act like a horrible politician?

I am fed up with seeing such horrible movies hiding the truth! Make movie of what you see, not hide the truth!

Movie certainly deserves 7 out of 10, but the director does not deserve even 0!

I hope my review was useful to correct some mistakes/lies about Istanbul...