An appalling lie

Rating: 1/10 (15 October 2012)

I saw Taken(One) by accident and sat through it only because I am generally supportive of Liam's films. I thought it was just okay (I have a review posted elsewhere) but hated the Kim character who came across as a totally brain dead teenager, and her mother as a calculated social climber.
I concluded my review by saying that another Taken should either not have the mother/daughter combo in it or else kill them both off in the first 20 minutes.
Sigh. They are both back and Kim is as whiney, petulant and stupid as ever. Can't even pass a drivers test in suburbia driving an automatic. The mother is having marriage issues so the solution to their disappointment is a holiday in Istanbul. Why not Hawaii, or the Gold Coast of Australia. The latter at least has 4 theme parks to keep poor Kimmy at her mental level of engagement, and a casino for Mummy. What did Istanbul do to deserve this duo?
Now I am not going to go over all the flaws in this movie; others have already done that in detail, and yes, it is an absolute clunker, but I cannot let the slanderous portrayal of Istanbul go without comment. I had the privilege of spending a week there two years ago as part of a cruise, and was bedazzled by the place. Only Prague and Budapest offer such variety IMHO. Turkey is at once both a modern and historical city and while largely Muslim it is home to many other religions including Christianity. It has managed this infusion of culture through secularism and progressive planning and development.
Why the producers chose Istanbul to make this lie of a movie beats me. Is it any wonder that the USA is seen by many other countries, including European countries, to be self-centred and dismissive of rich cultures and history far, far older than theirs? I think Hillary Clinton needs to apologise to the people of Turkey for the making and release of this drivel.