an average action film that is nowhere near as good as the original

Rating: 5/10 (30 December 2014)

Now I do love the first taken film and now with the third coming out I have decided to finally watch the second film and I must say I am disappointed as this is a distinctly average film. This film sees Bryan mills returning to deal with the families of his daughters kidnappers who have taken him and his ex wife. Now Liam neeson returns for this film and is good but he isn't really given allot to work with due to the story. The supporting cast is not the best but I think famke Janssen does a good job in the film with her character having much More relevance in this film then the first one. Maggie Grace is back as the daughter and I didn't like her in the first film and with her character more important in this film I once again do not like her. Unlike the first film there is a villain in this film, however, he is a clear idiot and allows mills to destroy his plans so easily. The story goes away from the first taken film and went from a simple premise to a convoluted plot that made no sense and took away from taken's strengths and showed its weaknesses up. The script from the first film and the second film manage to make it feel realistic but this film's dialogue is quite rigid sometimes because of the story. The style is cool sometimes with the car chases and action, but the film is unrealistic to a tee and there is also allot of shaky cam involved. Overall this film is distinctly average and I hope taken 3 is more like the original then this film.