Neeson's too old for this sh*t.

Rating: 4/10 (6 October 2012)

'Taken' was a rough and dirty bloodbath that defied the odds and became a smash at the box office, almost recouping ten times its $25m budget and reinvigorating Liam Neeson's career as a tough old son of a bitch in the process. It didn't have expectations to live up to, making it easier to enjoy. On the other hand, this follow-up has had the bar set at a modest height, and fails to reach it. Plot is never at the top of the priority list for revenge-thrillers, so the bare-bones story can be forgiven; what can't go unnoticed though is the awfully clichéd dialogue ("We will have our revenge" hisses the cardboard cut-out villain) and the muted action sequences. Seemingly out of puff, both the movie and Neeson's ex-CIA operative Bryan Mills meander along checking off the 'action-for-dummies' boxes, but never deliver any real pulse-racers. The violence is unusually meek, the climactic showdown fizzles when it should burst and, most visibly, Neeson is perhaps getting too old for this sh*t.