A poorly made sequel with only the dollar sign firmly in mind

Rating: 3/10 (14 October 2012)

Now look, I am going to say from the start, I like Liam Neeson, a good solid actor, even if lately his roles seem to be that of the brooding loner, perhaps very understandable considering recent personal circumstances and its a role he plays very well, so no problem with that. I loved the original movie, I saw it at the cinema, rented it, own the DVD and have shown it to many people. Its a great film, slick, fast, sets up its own universe rules as just the more realistic side of a James Bond movie, and it doesn't break those rules or lapse into total absurdity. Sure Neeson does impossible things but we get that and go along for the ride.
Here though, something went seriously wrong. The action relocated to Istanbul could have been potentially very interesting and the basic story, as shown in the trailers, so no spoilers here, is that the family of the men he killed in the first film want their revenge. I like this idea, that those seemingly meaningless extras whose job it was to basically die in the first film, actually have friends and relatives who care about them and want to see Neeson dead. In the world that Taken has set up, this is all very plausible and I am sure seemed a great idea on paper. So what happened?
The script then becomes riddled with ideas that are beyond dumb, and Istanbul is reduced to a minor backdrop and not used to its most effective use and as can be seen from other reviews, Turkish people found the film and its depiction a little offensive, I am not surprised. Most of the film could have been set almost anywhere except for a couple of wide shots. Characters do and say things that make no logical sense at all and the rules of the Taken universe are constantly broken. Yes we can suspend our disbelief to a point, but the film reaches a level of absurdity where your just squealing in your seat that this really is awful. Some of the acting from the supporting cast isn't great either but maybe that's down to the very poor tools (Script) they were given to work with. The action scenes are dumb and seem devoid of the tension and abrupt impulse that came with the first movie. Such a shame, because with a good script I would be quite happy to watch this character in any number of scrapes and I do enjoy a well written and well directed action flick with a good story, unfortunately this had none of those elements. If you have to watch it, wait for the DVD, even if there is an extended cut, I fail to see how it will resolve any of the issues here. Wake up Hollywood, we really aren't this dumb. So many Producers on one movie - ever heard of 'Too many cooks?'