Shades of Original 'Taken' but no match for it

Rating: 7/10 (28 October 2012)

Taken 2 had a huge burden to carry - that of Taken 1. The success of taken was based on multiple factors - the portrayed perfection of Bryan mills by Liam Neeson(the perfect "preventor"), screenplay depth, action sequences, hard-hitting dialogues ("I will find you"), fast paced nature of the film and overall, the believability factor - the film looked & felt real. Liam Neeson, as always, was brilliant and brought seriousness to Bryan Mills character. As the story is with most sequels, Taken 2 did not deliver the same adrenaline as Taken 1. But on a standalone basis, its a good action movie - fast paced, slick, good action sequences and nice screenplay resulting in character depth.
For me, the highlight of the Taken 2 was the screenplay and detailing of action sequences. Taken 2 had the same screenplay team who wrote Taken 1- Luc Besson and Robert Mark Kamen. These two guys have a thing for action movies and they have delivered high adrenaline heart-pumping flicks like transporter series, revolver, colombiana, Leon the professional - all movies with slick action. The highlight of Luc & Robert's work is that they don't depend on lot of explosions and high intensity fire power to create an action packed movie. They accessorize the central character with skills like extremely sharp presence of mind, hand-to-hand-combat expertise, knowledge of all kinds of weaponry etc. Basically, the protagonist is an exceptionally trained character (with army background or an ex-spy) applying his skills in real world crime scenarios. It puts the viewers in an awe of the protagonist from the first time they see him in action & from there the character build-up continues - exceptional story/screenplay skills. Luc & Robert are also very creative when it comes to action sequences. The stunt team doesn't pack the action sequences with punches, kicks or simply martial arts. It involves using a lot of small items from the place where the action is happening - be it Jason Statham's spilling of oil & then using cycle pedals to skid over it or Bryan mills presence of mind while using wooden sticks or counting the strokes of the watch when he is first kidnapped and understanding the course of the van from his knowledge of the city. Robert & Luc are adept at building the character before such genius presence of mind is displayed - everything about the characters just fits in and is precise and exceptionally executed. Taken 2 had the same qualities and that always kept the viewer on the edge of the seat with a WOW look on the face. One low point of the screenplay, when compared with Taken 1, was including some avoidable side stories - Kim's boyfriend, driving license, the separation etc. Taken 1's screenplay was honest - it was only about Mills and his passion for saving his daughter. The honesty in Taken 2 got diluted.
Liam Neeson portrayed Bryan Mills to perfection, again. He a mature actor and brings a sense of perfection to all his roles. I love the guy.
There are some obvious lows in the movie which made the movie less believable, which as I mentioned, was the strong point of Taken 1. Like Kim throwing grenades around in a crowded city, Kim driving the cab with expertise when she couldn't even get a license back home, the Albanians leaving Mills for long stretches of time post his capture (they were thirsty for his blood but suddenly wanted to wait when they capture him), bad guys emptying whole cartridges of bullets on Mills and hitting nothing. Taken 2 also picked up some specific style of dialogues & scenes which reminded the viewer of part 1 - obvious lack of creativity or simple laziness. Olivier Megaton's direction was also a low point - Colombiana was a much better effort than this.
All in all, Taken 2 did not bore me but it did disappoint me. Being a die-hard "Taken" fan, I'll let this one go by with a smirk. Much more creativity is needed to surpass the original. Would love to see Bryan Mills in action again. I hear Taken 3 has been announced. Rating for taken 2 - 6.5 out of 10.