96 Hours - Taken 2

Liam Neeson's action-man renaissance in 2008's "Taken" was a most unheralded critical and box-office hit for a seemingly generic revenge flick. Writers Luc Besson and Robert Mark Kamen managed to captivate audiences with a streamlined story of a retired CIA operative using his skills to locate and rescue his kidnapped daughter. It was a simple concept in that it utilized family bonds as motivation, but it was made exciting through a mixture of intriguing resourcefulness and crafty violence.

Everything about the story of "Taken" was so concrete, that there didn't seem like any obvious direction for a sequel, but a gross of $226.8 million on a $25-million budget talks, and so we have "Taken 2," but what Besson and Kamen have come up with this time fails to measure up to the original in almost every way.

This shouldn't surprise anyone considering, again, no justification existed in the original story for a sequel. Kim (Maggie Grace) couldn't just get taken again, and part of the intrigue was Mills (Neeson) having to find her despite being hours behind her captors with no idea of where they might take her. In "Taken 2," it's not as complicated and the stakes don't feel nearly as high.

Simply, the Albanians that Mills killed en route to finding his daughter want revenge, so they track him to one of his private security jobs in Istanbul. As it happens, Kim and her mother, Lenore (Famke Janssen), decide to surprise him by flying to meet him there, though to be fair it's not that obnoxious of a coincidence, as Mills had invited them to come after hearing Lenore's current husband had canceled their family trip to China.

During their first full day together in Istanbul, Kim gets the idea to let Bryan and Lenore have some alone time in hopes of rekindling their relationship, but when they go into town they are followed by the Albanians, and despite Mills' best efforts, he and Lenore are taken.

The entire setup here is forced — really forced. It feels as though every single plot point or detail exists solely to create circumstances in which our main characters can get kidnapped, with ample occurrences both inconvenient and convenient to allow for problems and general suspense while also providing enough room for a solution.

We already know what Mills is willing to do for his family, so his motivation is identical to the first film, plus we know he's too skilled to stay kidnapped for long. What's required to compensate for not raising the stakes in terms of both motivation and danger is substantially more creativity, and that's where Besson and Kamen really come up dry.

There's one scene early on (as in once the film gets going early on) in which Mills uses Kim to help pinpoint his location in the city, instructing her to set off grenades so he can figure out how far away she is by how long it takes for him to hear the blast. It's just a tease that the film might reach its predecessor's level, however, as the ingenuity never gets any more exciting than that.

Director Olivier Megaton, a frequent Besson collaborator, takes over for Pierre Morel, and does nothing to help nor hurt the picture. His style is a bit more frenetic as he heavily edits the action sequences to the point where you don't get more than a second and a half at any one camera angle, but that's not a problem so much as the film's failure through and through to prevent the audience's indifference to what's going on. We were given plenty of reason to doubt Mills' success in"Taken," but this time around we haven't a shred. There's a moment in which we think something might take a surprisingly darker turn, but it's over in a flash.

The script also attempts to be a bit more theme-driven than the first film, whether just because or in effort to compensate for its pointlessness. The father of one of the Albanians Mills killed (the infamous Marco from Tripoja), the "main bad guy" played by Rade Serbedzija, has a few conversations with Mills about taking the lives of family members and when revenge is or isn't justified. It's legitimate notion, but a bit out of place; we're asked to consider the feelings of the random European thugs who we normally see as killing fodder for our action movies. We don't care if you're someone's son — you're a tattooed meathead who deserves to be offed if for nothing but our amusement.

"Taken 2″ isn't offensively bad, just uninspired and unable to make the case for its existence. At 91 minutes, it's a harmless exercise in generic action filmmaking aimed at placating the folks who clamored to see more of one man's particular set of skills, even if they're the exact same skills applied in a less-than-spectacular manner.

~Steven C

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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 .

First off, I enjoyed the film, and think it was worth the money I paid to see it. While other reviewers have been beating this film down, I find that the story itself was carefully structured in the beginning and grants it believability from that point. By carefully structured, I'm mostly talking about the way an ex wife brings her daughter to Istambul to see her ex-husband.

The action sequences are, frankly, amazing. But not being an action junkie, I tend to go more for the story. What bothered me about the story was the portrayal of Kim Mills' boyfriend, and the resolution at the end of the film.

Just to note, the sequence on the rooftops of Istambul, someone mentioned it was believable, I wholeheartedly agree... let's just say one of the characters put guts and enthusiasm on display without suddenly becoming an expert... 'nuff said...

I loved Taken, I enjoyed Taken 2.

The sequel which could have started off one of the best action franchises of all time but ultimately fell flat. The movie is poorly directed by Olivier Megaton who over used shaky cam, the writing is cliched and stupid but to be honest I can't help but like it for being so bad, there is some redeeming factors like Liam Neeson who always puts in a great performance but overall the film is stupid and that's why I like it.

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...