In 2009, in my opinion, one of the greatest action movies of the modern age was released. Starring Liam Neeson, Taken, caught the world by storm in a very short amount of time. I actually saw it twice in the theatre and currently own the 2 disc special edition on blu-ray. Taken is one of my all time favorite movies, so naturally like any movie fan, I wanted a sequel. There wasn't much a set up for a second one, but I just wanted to see Liam Neeson kick ass like that in another film. In 2011, the sequel was announced on IMDB and it was being dubber Untitled Taken Sequel. If I remember correctly, I said "YES" very loudly when I said that and my mom gave me a weird look. I didn't care. The sequel that I had been waiting for was finally being made...I hoped. I know how sequels work. Sometimes they're made and sometimes they just die in pre-production. This sequel; however, seemed to be right on course. When Dark Knight Rises was released, I had hoped that the trailer would be released during the previews. Up until then, there had been no movie posters, no trailers, no advertising at all. Just the announcement with an October 11th release date. It never showed during the previews, so naturally I started to realize that this movie wasn't going to be as big as I thought it was going to be. Finally, in August of 2012, the first trailer was released on IMDB. A whole two minutes and twenty seconds of pure Liam Neeson awesomeness. My anticipation rebuilt and I knew that I couldn't be more ready. The disappointment; unfortunately, hit me like a train when I finally saw it.
First thing is first. The opening credits to the movie. They are some of the best that I have seen to date. The music flows perfectly with the editorial cuts to different things and the way the text is presented to show actors and what not fit perfectly. The opening scene of the movie set a very dark tone to the movie right off the bat. For the first 10 minutes of the movie, the viewer watched the bodies of all the men that Liam Neeson killed in the first Taken. They were put into coffins, put on a plane to Albania (The first movie says the men are from Albania), and taken off the plane for transport to a traditional grave yard for burial. Before the bodies could be loaded, men show up in black SUVs to take the bodies away. Beautiful shots of Albania and the middle east were the main aspect of the scene. The cameras were following the trucks as they were shooting establishing shots. A gorgeous scene. So far, the movie was great. The movie cuts to a scene of a burial of these body as a man speaks to the people watching the bodies being buried. He is speaking of revenge against Neeson for what he's done and vows that he will pay for his crimes. The scene ends. So, the opening scenes of the movie were fantastic. Great music, great flow, good acting, and amazing camera shots. The rest of the move; however, felt so empty.
I'm guessing that it has not been very long since the end of the first movie. Definitely not the three years time span that it took to make the film. If I had to guess, it's been close to 6 months. Maybe. Neeson is shown washing a car, so we establish that he has found a normal life back in the states, away from his old job working as a torturer. He heads to Lenore's house to pick up his daughter for a driving lesson. Kim has failed her driving test 3 times now and is going for 4th try in a couple weeks. She can never get the parallel parking right. To me, this was a huge foreshadow for the rest of the movie. I wasn't wrong. Kim turns into a professional NASCAR driver about 3/4 of the way through. It didn't make much sense to me, but I just sort of rolled with it.
I'm not going to tell anymore of the story, because there wasn't much of one. A story of vengeance. That's about it. There was do depth or detail done to the story, and that was a big factor for me. I also thought that the movie itself went by to quickly. Lenore and Neeson are kidnapped so Kim has to go rescue them. She turns into this super human with similar sleuthing skills as Liam Neeson. I didn't really buy it, but again, I just rolled with it. This definitely Kim's movie. Going from saving her father and mother to the director showing her body off. There were so many shots of her in her bikini. It was pleasant to look at, but I just feel like it didn't fit in the style of movie that the original had made so famous. Pure action to exploit that people will go to great lengths to get back their loved ones. Taken 2 started doing it, but they never quite got there.
Overall, the acting was solid. There were a couple corny lines but it was mostly done well. The two things that really turned me off were the story and a couple action scenes. A few of the kills were very questionable and also a couple of the action scenes. For example, at one point, Liam is in a car chase and all of the bad guys wind up surrounding him from all sides. They crash into the car and the people get out to go fetch him. Upon further investigation, Liam is not in the car. He's walking down an alley about 30 feet away. I called shenanigans. There was not a single point in the car chase where Neeson could have gotten away that fast. Also, Kim's scene where she is driving the car is complete shenanigans too. ONLY because earlier in the movie she was established as a terrible driver. Hence failing a test 3 times. One last thing, the story went WAY to fast. Everything happened over a span of a day. I wouldn't normally be upset about this, but so much happened during the movie that it seems almost impossible for it to happen.
To someone who hasn't seen the first one, it was a decent flick. To someone like me, who loves the first and had high expectations, this was mediocre. At best. I want to like it so much, but I just can't. As much as I wanted to see the sequel, I feel like it either shouldn't have been made or it should have had a different story. Well; maybe not different, but definitely a more in depth. The ending was straight forward. The story was straight forward. Last thing, the last song that plays in the last scene is very inappropriate for the particular situation that is happening. As much as I hate to say it, Taken 2 was a Hollywood sellout. Mediocre. 6.5/10
