Saturday Movies: Taken 2 (2012)

Did they need to make another movie to follow Taken? No. It was definitely a good movie they could have left alone, but with all the success you must make another to try to extend upon that, and that is what they did. While Taken 2 provides some intense moments that are entertaining, it for some reason feels very predictable, and just like an extension you don't need.  When your first movie was living the high life you shouldn't try to make a follow up to it.

Bryan is a retired CIA operative, but that doesn't mean his family has escaped the troubles of the past. He thinks with his daughter being kidnapped, and now rescued by him that he has escaped the worst of the waters, but someone is out for revenge for an occurrence that happened during that time. Bryan, and his wife, Lenore are taken hostage in Istanbul by the man who says he killed his son when his daughter was taken hostage. Now he is out for revenge, and he doesn't want to only harm Bryan, but his whole family. With his daughter being the only one not taken yet he is relying on her to follow through with being able to partner with him to get out of this situation.


Taken 2 is entertaining, and it is an exciting watch, and if there wasn't a previous movie to it then a lot of the wind from it wouldn't have been taken away. Someone does try to make it a movie that can stand on it's own, but also needs the previous movie to fully be understood though. It is a decent sequel, but much like you would expect from any movie that is a sequel. Feels like it shouldn't be here, but a good watch if you do see it.

Liam Neeson is always good in his role of Bryan, but unlike the previous movie he just didn't seem as full throttle about being a kick butt person. It just seems a tad of that is missing. He ends up even being kidnapped himself, and the movie is so short that most the time that is where he is at. True to who his character is though he is still able to be even too smart, and too well defended for the bad guys to even know what to do with him, which is what people love about him. He is a character that you know will always over power the bad guys even when something has got him down. It isn't like other movies where the villain almost seem unstoppable to the very last minute.

These movies have also most notably helped propel Maggie Grace, most notably other from Lost, to a little bit more stardom than she had. Whether Grace has any longevity is still up in the air. She has a very girl-next-door pretty cover girl model look, but most her roles easily fall into damsel in distress types, and she hasn't really showed much range. Most of the time she just seems to be really stressed, and always about to cry whenever I see her. She is also way past the age of playing a teenage girl getting her car. She is older than me, and I'm 24.

Taken 2 is a good movie to rent, and it's not a movie you would regret seeing in theaters either. Anyone can't help but asking what is the point though? It's been said there will even be a Taken 3, and if Liam seemed burned out of it in this movie then by the third I can't imagine how he will be. There are some welcomed things though like the development of his daughter, Sara, and how she is able to step up for herself when the tables are turned and she is not the one taken. You still have the taken formula, but they at least tried to be creative.

Rating 7 of 10.