Taken 2

My Grade:  C-

So, I fell into Hollywood’s trap.  That trap they titled Taken 2.  I liked the first one and I just knew the second one wouldn’t be very good, but I went to see it anyway.  I guess I, like many others, was just dying to see Liam Neeson kill some more Albanians.  There are a few reason I knew it wouldn’t be as good.  First, it is directed by Olivier Megaton (Columbiana) rather than Pierre Morel (Taken, District B13).  Secondly, there was barely enough of an emotional thread to hold the first one together so I couldn’t expect it to get better in a sequel that was only made because of the commercial success of the first installment.  Finally, it’s a sequel that was only made because of the commercial success of the first installment... did I already mention that?  That’s the movie BUSINESS for you.

I know, as a film critic, I am not supposed to compare a sequel to its predecessor; which is good for Taken 2 because it is so much worse than Taken.  But I’m going to compare it anyway because I have to.  The reason I have to is that Taken 2 doesn’t work on its own.  It relies solely on the first film to make us give a crap about what is happening in this film.  The character development all happened in Taken and that should not be.  A sequel should take the character development from part one and TAKE IT FURTHER... what a concept!  But, in Taken 2, the only real change in Kim (Maggie Grace) is that she somehow is able to pull some Liam Neeson-esque driving moves (I guess CIA training is hereditary) and she has a boyfriend.  She still runs funny.  Also, Bryan (Liam Neeson) is still the same guy that cares for his daughter, wants Lenore (Famke Janssen) back, and tells everyone “I need you to focus.”  Lenore changes a little, but that change turns her into the stereotypical woman with relationship problems who runs back into the familiar arms of her ex-husband then ends up being head-over-heels again because he saves her life.

Taken 2 is reasonably exciting because it follows a similar formula as Taken.  Taken worked, so why change the formula, right?  It’s like The Hangover and The Hangover 2.  There is a slight change in the formula, though, and it makes a world of difference.  In Taken, we want the bad guys to die because they sell young girls into sex slavery.  That kind of thing deserves some Liam Neeson (a.k.a. Bryan Mills) wrath.  In Taken 2, we want the bad guys to die because they are trying to kill Bryan... not nearly as powerful as selling girls into sex slavery.  The main bad guy is really just trying to avenge his son’s death.  Granted, his son was a bad dude, but still... you can almost argue that he’s in the right.  Bryan basically did the same exact thing in Taken.  If you think about it, the bad guy in this film is just like the good guy (Bryan) in the first film.  They both want to hurt people because of what happened to their children.  Bryan just happens to be better at it and have a nice child.

More importantly, the bad guy’s motivation is hypocritical.  He is angry with Bryan because of what Bryan did to his son.  That means his beef is with Bryan for injuring his family.  So, because of his anger, he goes after Bryan AND HIS FAMILY even though his issue is that Bryan went after his family... see the problem there?  I do.  And it doesn’t help me be more terrified of the main bad guy when he looks like The Most Interesting Man In The World from those Dos Equis commercials.

Overall, Taken 2 has some exciting moments and does some interesting things to show Bryan’s incredible (but quite unbelievable) skills; but suffers from poor character development, terrible character motivations, and relies too heavily on its far superior prequel.  It also has some parts that go beyond cliche to reach downright silly.  Without having to say “spoiler alert,” I’ll just say one such part involves a fist fight in a circular ring that just happens to be there at the perfect time.  They do everything except say “put your dukes up.”  

Okay, so I have avoided these kinds of puns for the entire review, but here goes:  don’t get “taken” in by Taken 2.