REVIEW: Taken 2

The pressure of the film sequel is pretty much the equivalent to the pressure a music artist faces when they release their second album.

The first time it comes around, it's almost like it's an true expression of the filmmakers behind it, where they have more freedom to create. However, when the sequel comes along, there are pressures from studios and audiences to give them what they want, rather than what the filmmakers want.

Taken 2 is a film that has definitely felt the pressures from audiences and studios as it suffers from a painfully thin plot.

Brian Mills (Liam Neeson) is back and still working as a part-time bodyguard, but this time he is shown to be working for the cash rather than it being because he has a "set of particular skills". While on a job in Istanbul he has a surprise visit from his daughter, Kim (Maggie Grace) and estranged wife, Lenore (Famke Janssen). However, unbeknownst to the family who are having a happy family time in Europe (even though Paris didn't treat his daughter too well in the first film!), Murad Krasniqi (Rade Serbedzija) the Father of the criminals who Brian killed in the first film, is plotting his revenge. What follows is a similar hostage problem as the first film, except this time it's Brian and Lenore who get 'taken' and not Kim. It's left to Kim to free her Father and then team together in order to save Lenore before Krasniqi takes his revenge.

I'm just going to come out and say it, Taken 2 is not a very good action film and it's main problem lies in the fact that it's very anti-climatic. From every chase scene that the film introduces right up until the final battle between Krasniqi and Brian, the film just fails to build any tension. While the first Taken was filled with the threat from the sex trafficking trade and the ruthless criminals who had stolen and were drugging up Kim and the other girls, Taken 2 just resorts to kidnapping Lenore and holding her hostage in a room until Brian finds her. There's nothing threatening about the main problem in Taken 2 and the film suffers largely because of it.

However, the Director Olivier Megaton does craft together one good fast-paced chase scene, even though it does require you to suspend disbelief... a lot of it. We are led to believe that Kim, who is struggling to pass her driving test back in the USA, can suddenly pull 180 handbrake turns and drift around corners on the mean streets of Istanbul in a beat up taxi. But, I can look past this unbelievable plot point, because it's the only real tense action scene in the entire film. The rest of the film resorts to running around Istanbul, shooting bullets into walls (not bodies) and fatal punches/cuts being left off-screen. The rest of the film just felt a little bit... boring.

I can't help but feel that a lot of Taken 2's problems were out of the Director's hands. Firstly, the film felt like it was cut apart beyond all recognition. In a weird move, the film has been edited down to fit into a 12A rating in the UK (meaning that anyone can see it, as long as under 12s have an accompanying adult with them). The first Taken was rated 15 in cinemas and then 18 in an Unrated DVD version. It involved hard drug abuse and the sex trafficking trade as it's main threat and it felt like the return of the serious hard action film. Taken 2 is just a watered down family-friendly version of the first film to a point where some scenes don't even make sense. A prime example being the two final fight scenes, where one bad guy seems to be defeated by Brian pushing him over and Krasniqi is defeated by a hand push in his face. It was just ridiculous.

The other main problem was in the casting and the acting. While Neeson, Grace and Janssen were all in returning roles, they all seemed to be on auto-pilot. There was no gravelly, threatening voice from Neeson providing a lengthy threatening speech to the villain (ala. "I have a particular set of skills" from the first film), Grace's character was too busy getting in the way for the first half of the film and then disappearing for the second half and Janssen's character was left to being an unconscious victim for the majority of the film. However, the biggest problem with the characters lay with Krasniqi as he was a villain who had very little backstory and then did very little with his screen time - his motive was simply revenge for his son's death, with nothing else even hinted at. It felt like he should have had a more ruthless personality where he was an ex-serviceman or the owner of the sex trafficking circle from the first film that Brian had destroyed. But instead, we get nothing.

So, Taken 2 is a big disappointment for fans of Taken. It's completely devoid of tension, plot or character which to be honest, are the bare essentials for any decent action film. It seems like Brian, Lenore and Kim will be staying at home and avoiding Europe at all costs from now on, just like you should be avoiding the cinema to see this and waiting for the DVD - let's face it, Taken 2 will obviously get the Unrated DVD treatment.

** / *****