Almost as good as the first...

Rating: 10/10 (10 November 2013)

Usually the second movie in a series is not as good as the first, but Taken 2 is almost as good as the first. Luc Besson and Robert Mark Kamen, who wrote Taken, followed up with a spectacular sequel. Set in Istanbul the families of the men that Bryan Mills (Liam Neeson) killed in Paris have come calling for revenge. The tagline on the DVD I have says "First they took his daughter, now they are coming for him."
Bryan is working as a body guard in Istanbul and has invited his daughter, Kim (Maggie Grace), and his ex-wife, Lenore (Famke Jensen), to join him as a get away for a few days once his work is complete. The families of the men Bryan killed in Paris are trying to track where Bryan and his family will be... they find him. On the morning of the first full day Kim and Lenore are in Istanbul the men attack, but they only get Bryan and Lenore. Kim had stayed at the hotel to swim in the pool and relax, claiming jet lag.
Just like in Taken there is almost nothing about this movie I don't like. However, in Taken 2 there is a scene where Bryan and Kim are racing through the streets of Istanbul in order to get to the U.S. Embassy. Bryan is yelling at Kim to drive faster. Kim is yelling back that she can't. The thing that I didn't like is that at every turn Kim whines that she "can't". But as we see she certainly can.
When you like the whole movie it is difficult to choose which scenes you like and want to talk about. But I'll try.
There is a series of scenes that I like that have to deal with when Bryan and Lenore are taken. Bryan tries to get Lenore to safety by telling her how to get back to the hotel, but that doesn't work and she is captured. Before Bryan finds out that Lenore gets captured he is ambushed and fights about five or six different guys, maybe more. Bryan finds one of the guys guns and points it at one of them threatening to "blow his brains out". Another guy then shoots his "friend" three times. That is when Lenore is brought to the courtyard and Bryan calls Kim. Bryan tells Kim what is going to happen and what he wants her to do.
The next scene I like is the car chase Bryan and Kim lead through the streets of Istanbul, despite Kim whining most of the time. The aggressiveness that is required to avoid not only the guys trying to kidnap them, but also to avoid the police is pretty cool. At one point during the chase Kim and Bryan are driving through a train yard; they dodge a train but one of the bad guys trucks isn't so lucky. Just after this Kim and Bryan make it to the Embassy, though they have to drive through a hale of gun fire by U.S. Embassy guards. Bryan calls his friend, Sam (Leland Orser), to make sure they are safe.
The final scene I liked is when Bryan goes after the rest of the group who have Lenore. Bryan now knows that the man in charge is the father, Murad Krasniqi (Rade Serbedzija), of the man he electrocuted in Paris. When Bryan and Lenore had been taken earlier that morning, Bryan paid attention to sounds and turns in the road. He followed those sounds and turns until it lead him to the house Lenore was being held in. Once he gets there... all hell breaks loose. Bryan kills every last one of the men in the house and tracks down Murad and another man, who have left the house with Lenore. Bryan tracks them to a bath house. After killing the last man, Bryan decides to leave Murad alive if he would just go home and live the rest of his life caring for his remaining sons. Murad has other plans and still tries to kill Bryan. Bryan shoves Murad's head into a coat-hook which penetrates the base of his skull.
Taken 2 is a great movie, almost as good as the original. Even though I say that sequels are almost never as good as the first and that I gave Taken 10 stars out of 10, I also give Taken 2 10 stars out of 10.