Taken 2 Movie Review

Posted by Charmaine Blake on Oct 3rd, 2012 in Action Adventure, Crime, Drama | 0 comments

Taken 2 Movie Review

Taken 2 a second take to the first film starring Liam Neeson is starting to gain different reviews from movie fans and critics alike. Taken 2 is going to take audiences into another thrilling ride that involves Agent Bryan Mills (Liam Neeson) using all his skills and training to make sure that he rescues his family and end this war. There has been a lot of talk with regards to this new movie so let’s take a look at an in depth movie review from Adam Ross to see how people should rate Taken 2:

“Taken 2: A Passable Movie That Should Be Considered

As it currently stands (on Rotten Tomatoes at least) Taken 2 is the worst reviewed film of Liam Neeson’s illustrious career. I’m not here to tell you that Taken 2 is a masterpiece, but it is nowhere near as bad as its tomato-meter score would suggest — the original Taken is still considered rotten for Christ’s sake. Is it the sequel we wished for? No, but it is passable action entertainment…with two crippling problems. The first is the softening of the brutal violence that gave the original its cathartic kick, and the second is director Olivier Megaton’s (replacing Taken’s Peirre Morel) handling of the film’s action. He over-edits sequences until they are almost unintelligible. Often so much so that he makes the Bourne films look like Downton Abbey.

Set two years after the events of the first film, Taken 2 finds ageing badass Bryan Mills up to his old tricks. He is still wildly overprotective of his daughter Kim (Maggie Grace) — he ruins Kim’s make-out session with a well-placed GPS — and he is still haunting the hallways of his ex-wife Lenore (Famke Janssen). Luckily for Bryan, his retributive actions in Paris have won him eternal brownie points with the girls, and when he suggests that they holiday with him in Istanbul, they offer little resistance. Unfortunately for the Mills clan, this reunion offers the perfect opportunity for Albanian mafia leader Murhad Hoxha (Rade Šerbedžija) to exact his revenge on Bryan. Vowing to avenge the men that Mills slayed in Paris (including his own son), Hoxha plans on taking all that is dear to Mills.

The first Taken is considered a modern action classic and it is easy to see why. The film took a relatable notion — how far would you go for your family? — and extended it to violent extremes. Despite his age (56!), Liam Neeson proved to be a viable action-star and the film featured extraordinary action scenes. Taken not only had the good sense to generate reprehensible villains — human traffickers — but to also punch them square in the throat.

I won’t even dress it up: violence sells. It’s the reason that people still head out to see the agingExpendables , Stallone knows what his audience wants and he gives it to them by the gallon. This is where Taken 2 monumentally fucks up. This film neuters Bryan Mills. Every time that Mills punched, shot or stabbed someone in Taken, director Peirre Morel went in for the kill. Here, director Olivier Megaton pulls away like some kind of cinematic pacifist. Even worse, he often tries to have his cake and eat it too; he shows the action — the muzzle flash of a gun, the swing of a fist — and then cuts away (to God knows what) to obscure its impact. The first fight in Taken 2 plays like pugilistic algebra: it hurts your brain trying to figure out what the f*** is going on.”

To continue reading the rest of the review click here to go to The Crat

Taken 2 is scheduled to be released in theatres this Friday, October 5th 2012.

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Charmaine Blake loves movies, musical theater listening to music and taking pictures of anything that she finds interesting. She is a voracious reader and writer, and enjoys her time writing for New Movie Launches. Charmaine loves spending time with her pets and currently has a Siberian Husky, a toy poodle and a cat.