Taken - La vendetta

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.

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.

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 .