Taken 2

2012 • 92 minutes

About this movie

Liam Neeson returns as Bryan Mills, the ex-CIA operative who stopped at nothing to rescue his daughter from sadistic kidnappers. When the father of one of the kidnappers swears revenge, it is Bryan and his wife who find themselves taken hostage in Istanbul. To survive, Bryan must enlist the help of an unlikely ally and use his brutally efficient skills to take out his heavily-armed foes one by one.

Ratings and reviews

Taken was a tough act to follow. Unfortunately, Taken 2 fell short on most of the basics of a movie. The story is dry, very predictable, and short. Within a few scenes, Liam Neeson is back into some action. Not so much that its too soon, but with what story they gave you, the entire movie felt just like a chase and lots of frays. Thankfully Taken 3 takes care of all of those mishaps, but that's another review to be written.

The acting is not as good as in the prequel. Main character seems more terminator like. In the 1st movie you can actually feel his desperation to find his little girl. In this one he lacks emotion. Also, the plot is lame. For the bad guy, it is sad when they give a good actor a poorly developed role with a lame script. Overall good actors in an under cooked script. Still somewhat entertaining. Good to rent, bad to see in the theater.

It was almost a complete rehash of the original. If all you care about is Liam Neeson killing baddies with a high body count, then it is a solid rental. The "You're going to be taken" shtick is repetitive, but I assume that is for people who didn't see the first one. The Embassy scene was highly unrealistic and anyone who follows world events knows that the car would have been shot up until the motor was blown and occupants dead. You expect Neeson's buds to join, but they leave him as if it's normal.