Nothing special

Rating: 2/10 (14 October 2012)

I did not see the first movie, which I heard was quite good. My review will be simple - what I liked and what I didn't.
What I liked: The idea of the daughter helping Liam Neeson escape was predictable, but I liked it. Good to see her justify being in the movie. Liam Neeson was mostly likable. He really tried to do a good performance, succeeding, in my opinion, with the movie's best, but the script didn't help him much. Liam giving instructions to his daughter by phone was also interesting. There were some good landscapes of Istanbul.
What I didn't like: There's a lot. Firstly, the story was bland and very predictable. As I understand, a copy of the first movie. Secondly, the characters - nearly all of them - were laughable and childish. What's worst, they acted like idiots, especially the "you can't possibly escape; your death will be slow; we'll politely chain you in our basement without guards and chase you around for hours later shaking our heads etc." terrorists. Neeson's ex-wife and daughter had no character. You'd expect the daughter to be traumatized, but she was only slightly shaken and fully recovered in the end of this film, where, basically, the exact same thing happens as in the first. I wouldn't! And she didn't even tell her boyfriend about it: romantic, eh? Thirdly, the police are just as stupid as in your average low-budget thriller flick. Istanbul basically explodes, and they barely notice. Terrorists kill cops, guards and more, they just sit and watch. The U.S. embassy is embarrassing as well: they basically have an army in the city (what???), but they don't help Liam at all. But what's worst: our hero is a cold blooded murderer! He repeatedly shoots his enemies and even cops when he clearly has other options, he says it himself. I felt no sympathy for any of our main characters, in fact I was hoping for the ex-wife and daughter TO DIE, just so I could see some more emotion from Liam and perhaps even feel sorry for him. At the end, he kills the main bad guy (who only wanted revenge for the death of his sons, overreacted revenge, I agree, but at least I understood his motives)when he clearly shouldn't, and thus triggers the revenge of the terrorist's other sons and a third movie, like he says himself. At times, the movie seems to be making fun of itself, in specific the so-called Dead henchmen problem. The action is horribly shot - the jump-cuts gave me a headache. Seriously, there's like 300 shots per minute, all separated by insane jump-cuts. How is this even possible? Half the time, I couldn't understand what was going on. And the romance between Neeson and his ex- wife: painful. Especially the dialog. When they try to be sarcastic but fail miserably.. ugh. The plot is just bad.
But, if you really like to see Liam Neeson beat people, even if it's horribly shot, give it a go.