Taken 2 Review
The follow up to the action packed Taken is disappointing
Producer Luc Besson and director Olivier Megaton had a smash hit on their hands with 2008’s Taken, starring Liam Neeson as the ex-CIA guy whose daughter was kidnapped by traffickers in Europe. Needless to say, Liam went after the bad guys, found them and killed them. Sorted. It was such a success that a sequel was inevitable – and it’s got a strange twist, this one. This time around, it’s Liam who’s got himself kidnapped, and his daughter who is trying to save him.
Chained up in a dark, damp basement in Istanbul (while his Turkish abductors casually watch football in the next room), Liam whips out a tiny hidden mobile phone, calls his daughter and tells her to get hold of his guns and grenades – and come and find him. Which is odd when you consider that, in the first film, Liam barely wanted his daughter to leave the house incase of danger – but now he’s inviting her into a practical suicide mission.
Neeson, being the ever professional actor, puts just as much effort into this performance as his much more serious roles (such as Oskar Schindler), but even he can’t save this one. The first movie, box office hit though it may have been, was a bitpants. This one is ridiculous, and the premise is a little tired. Not only that, but the saving grace of the first film was Liam’s casual attitude to a bit of torture – electrocution, a few beatings etc – which made the film a 15, but Taken 2 is a 12A, and nowhere near as fun and gory. It’s safe to say that this tamer, sillier version of Taken is a bit of a disappointment.
