This farce has to be Olivier Megatons fault.

Rating: 3/10 (14 January 2013)

Call me a crazy nut job, but I expected so much better. I very much liked the first Taken but this really was a joke.
I think Neeson knew this film had gone pear shaped and probably gave up because you kind of sense it in some of the scenes and to be honest his acting in this was well below his usual high standard. I don't blame him at all really, and to his credit its only his his presence which sort of holds the entire thing together. The majority of blame for this joke factory (not that its funny in any way) should be laid at the directors feet. A truly awful job by Olivier Megaton - there is nothing mega about this guys effort.
On paper, the premise of the film seems fine - although rather predictable. But its surely the directors job to pour some soul and magic in to the mix and create something worthy. But he failed miserably and the result is a shameful film executed with zero pace, tension, style, or anything remotely resembling a pro job. Some blame also has to go to the script writing. Now, I don't know if Luc Besson actually wrote the script spoken by the cast, but if he did its a terrible effort from him. But then again, even with a very average script a good director could have made a half decent movie of this genre - especially considering he had the original Taken to reference and Liam Neeson to work with.
A golden opportunity has been missed here. Liams likable character had so much to offer in terms of development, but you get none of that at all. In fact his character is completely watered down. In the first instalment he reminded me as a cross between leon and James Bond but in Taken 2 he's just some bloke running around with a gun taking out the bad guys without breaking a sweat. At no time do you actually feel Liam or his family are in any real danger. Its like watching a kid playing an X box shoot em up game on very easy mode.
The question I ask my self is didn't anyone notice how bad the script, the directing or any other multitude of film making sins whilst this thing was being created? Was it to late during the early stages to make script changes, even re-do some of the plot - or better yet, sack Megaton? Didn't anyone speak up? Megaton, didn't you notice how crap a job you were doing as you played back the days filming results. Did you not notice you couldn't coax a decent performance out of any of the actors. Did you not notice you have zero ability to inspire cast or crew? Don't mean to be rude Megaton, but if you aim to make more films you seriously need to up your game (massively) or change your career.
Im not a massive film buff or know anything about the ins and outs of film making. There are far more knowledgeable people on IMDb who know the score. But what I do know is this film is crap, and even I could have directed this about a billion times better than this guy - despite never having directed a film in my life. I really should get my self on a plane to Hollywood as it seems anyone can get a directing job.