Taken 2

20th Century Fox/Europa

Back in 2008, there was a film called Taken, which did “take” a lot of money home from the box office. (See what I did there? The word “take”?) Then in 2012, the same producers decided they wanted to “take” more of our money, so they released a sequel, creatively entitled Taken 2. (See, I used “take” again. Never mind.)

20th Century Fox/Europa

"I see what you did there, and I don't like it."

I don’t remember much from the first film. All I know is that Liam Neeson’s daughter gets "taken" in Europe, so he goes there to "take" her back. Also, his daughter is kinda of hot.

20th Century Fox/Europa

Her name is Maggie Grace. No relation to Maggie Smith.

Anyway, in this sequel, the family find themselves in Istanbul. And some crooks from the first film want revenge on Liam Neeson. So when Neeson is out on a date with Famke Janssen (not sure if they’re divorced, though), the crooks arrive, and after some standard adrenaline-pumping Luc Besson chase scenes, they both get "taken".

20th Century Fox/Europa

"Oh, not again!"

Where’s Maggie Grace, you ask? Back at the hotel, of course. And this is important, and you know why? It’s because this time, Liam Neeson uses his daughter to “take” his handcuffs off, so that he can go and "take" ex-wife Famke Janssen back. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the entire plot of this movie. Yes, this film’s screenplay was still written by Luc Besson and Robert Mark Kamen. But even franchise creators don’t put much originality in sequels.

20th Century Fox/Europa

They did put in a fight scene against
a thug who looks like Steven Moffat.

Also, the credits say D.B. Sweeney is in this film, but I couldn’t find him. Did he also get “taken”?

20th Century Fox/Europa

"Can you please stop with the 'taken' jokes?
I'm with my family here."

Taken 2. France. 2012.



Original rating: 7.0 / 10
Rade Sherbedgia not speaking a word of Turkish during the burial scene: - 0.1
Inability to find D.B. Sweeney: - 0.1
Director Oliver Megaton's name sounding like "Megatron": + 0.05
Number of times the word "take" was used in this review (11): + 0.05
Final rating: 6.9 / 10





You may also want to read the review of Taken.





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