Yet another sequel to shun

Rating: 4/10 (2 July 2013)

Like so many sequels before this, the execs couldn't push themselves away from the dinner table after getting full from the first film. Taken 2 will find itself in the pile of bad sequels and how large that heap is.
This movie was incredibly contrived. The very element that captivated us in the first Taken was missing in Taken 2. In the first installment we were all compelled by a very driven and determined father. Well, you can't kidnap the same girl twice because that would just be too obvious of a reach to make a second movie, so let's take Bryan himself and his estranged wife... no one will ever see that coming. But that's just it...it was too lame.
A, seemingly, religious Albanian is so motivated to avenge the death of his son, and the other members of the criminal prostitution ring, that he spares no effort to track down Bryan to kidnap and kill him. Not only was it not very believable, it was bland. The movie just didn't have the attraction of the first. Liam seemed older, slower and less believable as a kick-ass ex spy. Even the villains didn't seem really motivated. I stopped watching a third of the way through. I got suckered into renting it by my own curiosity; once my curiosity was satisfied and I was disappointed, I pulled the plug.