Avis des utilisateurs

I am a big fan of the first taken movie, it not only had professional cinematography but great action, suspense and originality. Now this sequel i am ashamed to say was a money grab by the producers. Now Luc Besson and Robert wrote the original script without being pressured by their superiors to be limited to a marketable plot, unfortunately thats what has happened to Taken 2.

The plot follows Liam Neeson after the events of the original and well its the pretty much an identical situation.

The climax however is the main issue , it's rushed. It just happens and I was left wondering why it just ended so fast.

I cannot say this movie was terrible because it wasn't, it was just a movie that could not even close live up to its predecessor due to lack of depth and originality.

Don't waste your money at the cinemas Wait till its on DVD

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.

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...

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.

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.

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 .

i want to make sure no one gets scared off and doesn't see it. i thought it was a really good movie , if you liked the first one. The way people judge movies sucks, and ill be quick and make it simple.Liam Neeson is still a bad ass and a great actor, the story still keeps your attention even if its not as real as the other story. Then as soon as it becomes tense again, Liam reminds you who the real bad ass is and takes care of business. They did a good job shooting the film and the story line is a good one for a second movie. Not to mention you get some more cool intel on killing people and sercets of finding people. go see it , you'll enjoy it!!!!

Such a disgusting movie ever. I am from Turkey but I have never seen those people and buildings in anywhere. They are just old historic buildings. The police cars are totally fake. I do not know what the director was trying to show by doing this but it is so stupid. Turkish Police Department never had those cars. I did not see any girls outside in the movie, just men and women with black scarf and covering all their body showed up everywhere. Turkey is a democratic and secular country and there is no difference between people who are walking around the streets live in USA and Turkey. If I knew that I would never go that movie and give money to those f.... people. Please protest this movie and do not watch it even in your house.

Liam Neeson's action in 'Taken' series is eye-pleasing and full of flavors, from hand-to-hand combat to bomb and car-chasing. However, Taken 2 follows the exact same pattern of Taken apart from the fact his daughter is replace to his wife this time. It is still worth of two hours entertainment, but not as good as the first one.

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.

When I heard there was going to be a Taken 2, I must admit, I didn't have a positive reaction. It just seemed completely unnecessary given the plot of Taken, and its near ideal ending, I just didn't want to see the whole thing rehashed all over again in a sloppy way.

However, I went to see Taken 2 and I had a pleasant experience. They took the storyline and characters into full consideration. In the original Taken, the girl, Kim, seemed like a brat and all you saw her do was laugh, smile and run when she got her way and cry when things go wrong. Lenore seemed cold and proud of herself as well, only to be humbled when Bryan (Liam Neeson) proved her right of the dangers of international travel.

In Taken 2, both characters are more mature, more respectful and watchable, and are more involved in the plot. Because the antagonists are after everyone, Liam and Lenore as well as Kim, it makes an interesting triangle of how everyone plays their part and help each other out.

The movie is not over-coated with the action sugar with loud music and explosions everywhere. It has a great deal of thought, suspense, and a share of original technique and even dialogue, just like the original. Istanbul provides some good locations, both intriguing scenery and gloomy scenery which can also help in taking the movie seriously.

Sure, it has it's flaws, and the camera-work is sometimes choppy, but the point is, if you thoroughly enjoyed the first Taken, you should see this one too.

Bryan(Neeson) is in Istanbul, when suddenly, his ex and daughter show up... the combination of females and a foreign country immediately causes a villain(Serbedzija, who tries and fails to be particularly intimidating or memorable) to materialize(as well as a revenge story), and abductions occur. As you can probably already tell from what I describe, this goes for a more mainstream Hollywood feel(and if you make the "brilliant" counterpoint that it's made by Frenchmen, I will have to slap you... we're talking about the approach, it doesn't need to actually come out of the US), not daring to take chances, in spite of that being the strength of the first one(this one has a bit fewer surprises), presumably to ensure profits by being blander(and thus inoffensive). We now have scenes that we've seen before in this genre, playing out the way we'd expect them to. On the plus side, this does still keep the pace fast(if the energy dies out and is then revived somewhat, several times... it's already a tired premise, they really should have left it at just one movie), the rampant misogyny of the original is gone, the dark tone is maintained yet with a little humor(keeping it from being as unpleasant), based around the obsessive nature of our retired CIA operative lead. And the action is mostly good, sometimes great and intense. The so-swift-you-only-barely-perceive-it cutting is now reserved for the hand-to-hand combat, and there are more chases and shootouts, which get very dumb and boring at times. The female characters are written better, they feel like human beings. Lenore(Janssen) is no longer an insufferable bitch(this one can actually see things from her side!), and Kim(Grace) is downright active and important, not to mention that you can feel the mental scarring of the events of the '08 one, along with increased maturity and her still being an upbeat person(they also sexualize her, showing off Maggie's delicious bod... very Shannon, in that regard), and she does nice acting in it. The filming is not as solid with the loss of the director Morel(an expert cinematographer), and Megaton(badass name by the way) moves the camera excessively, causing the viewers to lose focus of where people are in relation to each other, taking us out of it. There is a lot of PG-13(because this is what you want 13-year-olds watching) violence and mild language and a tad of disturbing content and blood. I recommend this to those who want more of "the same", even if it's inferior. 6/10

The original Taken was excellent. We saw Liam Neeson enter a huge action role in the likes of Bond and Bourne, and gave us a surprising hit. It seemed inevitable that a sequel would be made. Despite still being entertaining and filled with some clever scenes, Taken 2 never quite reaches the same level as its original.

The reason the original Taken worked so well was that Bryan Mills (Liam Neeson) was racing against the clock to find his daughter Kim (Maggie Grace) in Paris after being kidnapped, giving him a reason to make quick decisions and pushing his boundaries with how far he'd go with violence and morality. In the sequel, the plot is pretty much the same, although he and his ex-wife Lenore (Famke Janssen) get taken instead of his daughter in Turkey. Essentially there's less mystery and suspense in this one as I feel the movie suffers due to its predictability and toned down violence for the PG-13/12 rating.

That's not necessarily a bad thing, though. Taken 2 works better as a popcorn movie than its original, having more action and car chases that keep you hooked at the movie's fast pacing once it gets going. The movie has some funny scenes, but there's also some stupid ones too which I will not spoil. I'm not sure if the movie's intention was to make fun of the original or not, but you'll notice the tone and humour of the movie is less serious than the original.

In conclusion, as much as I enjoy seeing Liam Neeson fight people in these movies, I don't think a third time will work with the exact same premise. In terms of entertainment and keeping me occupied, I'd give it an 8/10 for what it is. However, seeing another sequel for this might not be a good idea, but don't rule that option out!

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

Thanks for reading! Visit moviemusereviews.com

Let's get this out of the way now. Taken is my favourite film. Ever. So I went into Taken 2 to with expectations; they'd have to up the ante, and not destroy the brand.

Taken 2 sits somewhere in the middle of that. The first half of the film tries to build on the characters of Bryan Mills (Liam Neeson), estranged wife Lenore (Famke Janssen), and daughter Kim (Maggie Grace). This half of the film really works, investing you in the characters, even if there are few holes here and there. It really gets you feeling for the characters when the action gets going. Sadly when the action does kick in, it doesn't deliver. New director Olivier Megaton (Transporter 3, Colombiana), who has taken over from the brilliant Pierre Morel, directs with the subtlety of a brick thrown at a glass window. From poorly executed shots, to overly shaky camera work & way too many cuts, the violence and shock of these actions seen in Taken 1 is lost in this film. This also probably has to do with the producers' choice to lower the rating from MA15+ to M15 (or PG13 in America). Their reason for this is to "broaden the audience", but seeing as the first one is so violent and how you need to see the first one to understand what the hell is going on in Taken 2, this is a stupid move as the kids watching won't be allowed to see the first! Another thing which really bugged me was the colour grading; when Bryan was with his family it was nice and bright, but when we were with the villain (Rade Serbedgia), the film had this overly dark grey look to it which just said "HE'S A GOOD GUY AND HE'S A BAD GUY!!!"

I wasn't expecting much from director Olivier Megaton, whose only other films, The Transporter 3 and Colombiana, both of which are pretty average. But I was expecting a lot more from Luc Besson as producer and writer. I enjoyed the first half of the film, it showed love for the original and really built on the characters, perhaps too much. But sadly I was incredibly disappointed with the second half which was poorly executed and left me thinking "Really? Is that it?"

7/10

I was looking for this movie for a long time, when the sequel was announced. But it failed me miserably.. As usual Liam Neeson did justice to his role, but the movie is not a Edge-Of-Your-Seat Action Thriller. Really really disappointing. The movie starts on a slow note and then tries to progress with car chase,then abduction, finding the trails.. All was just like a normal one.. Nothing new....! It was really a disappointment. All i liked about this movie, is Bryan (Liam Neeson)'s instructions to his daughter to find their hideouts was lil bit OK.. But rest of all, the movie is an utter disappointing. Background score was inapt.

MY verdict 5.5 / 10 {i gave Taken 9 on 10)