Meh, suspension of disbelief wasn't up to it

Rating: 4/10 (29 October 2012)

OK, first of all, the tacked on glurgey happy families subplot bugged me. I just don't believe the ex wives of international security specialist hard men are likely to drop everything and schlepp off to Constantinople with, what one assumes must be, their seriously traumatised, yet surprisingly fashionable and flirty teenage daughters at a moment's notice, no matter their current marital difficulties. I found the nouveau riche mother/ex wife to be thoroughly unlikable, apparently her raison d'etre was to be a weeping liability that Bryan had to keep going back for, when she wasn't being a vehicle to demonstrate the objective badness of the baddies. I get that well to do, sheltered soccer moms probably don't do well when suddenly thrust into the high stakes world of international terrorism, but her entire character arc seemed to go from "victim", to "unconscious victim".
While Mom the victim was being mindlessly terrorised by the baddies, spunky daughter was able to cope in circumstances that would reduce most combat veterans to tears, yet we're supposed to believe that in the vaguely recent past (i.e. "Taken") she was kidnapped, drugged and almost sold into sexual slavery. And no Rocky-esq montage of the years of therapy to get her over her PTSD needed? She's just meant to be fine? Oh, I get it... she has a boyfriend now. Well, I guess that fixes everything.
The sequence of locating the father bugged especially. Ever worked with grenades? They're loud, and dangerous. Loud, obviously, because Bryan can clearly hear them several kilometres away, yet Kim seems to be able to throw several around the roof tops of Constantinople with a. no one taking much notice, b. aside from one car, no observable destructive or injurious effect. While on the subject, someone get that girl a pitching contract! She was throwing grenades, with pin point accuracy, over distances grenade launchers would have difficulty with.
Couple of other things, apparently, like the Eiffel Tower in Paris, the Haiga Sophia is visible from every window in Constantinople, and no matter how many ferries one takes, or how many kilometres of back allies one drives down, its never further away than the middle distance? Did you know that ever motor vehicle in Constantinople with a visible badge is either a BMW or a Mercedes? Even the taxis? Did you know that Albanian crime syndicates use the Turkish national Flag as an identifying tattoo? I guess its easier to draw than the Albanian flag.
I sort of suspect that an ex CIA field officer would know what a Adhan was, and what a muezzin was doing, and not refer to the Muslim call to prayer as a "man singing".
Last point, and I know it isn't unique to this movie, but it bugs me that the dateline crawl just says "Albania", because thats all the info we need, but back in the good old US of A, we just get "Los Angeles". Also, Paris, France, so, you know, we don't think it might be "Paris, Arkansas". The way entire countries are given the same weight as single US cities, bugs me, and the way any city worthy of individual naming outside the lower 48 needs to have its country pointed out, bugs me.
All in all, the action was fine, but the niggles ganged up to ruin the story for me, and my suspension of disbelief wasn't strong enough.