Average action film.

Rating: 5/10 (8 March 2013)

The original Taken took everyone by surprise by being a fairly decent action adventure. It also thrust Liam Neeson into the role of an action movie star, something you wouldn't have picked a few years ago. The plot was simple, but well executed, combined good action with a solid effort from Neeson.
Taken 2 really, to be honest, feels like Taken, but with no step up. When you make a sequel, if you want it to stand out and excel on the first film, you need to step it up. Whether it be a better story line, or better action sequences, better performances. But Taken 2 really delivers on none of these fronts. In fact, I suspect that had this not been the sequel to the original, this would be a straight to DVD effort.
This time out sees Bryan Mills (Neeson) head to Istanbul (and I'm not sure they did Turkey's tourism office any favours here), and the plot flows on from the first film. The relatives of Mills' victims from his previous exploits through Europe are now seeking revenge. This time, both his wife (Famke Janssen) and daughter (Maggie Grace) are both caught up in the chaos, with gunfights, car chases and fisticuffs flowing regularly.
As I said before though, nothing really gets stepped up in this. The plot line is pretty simple. Whilst the first was no Shakespearean effort, you at least delved a little bit into the underground of Europe's nasty side, and however clichéd it was, there was a little character development before the bullets started flying. This time, it's simply good vs bad guys, with the backdrop of Istanbul providing nothing but fly-over helicopter shots and your typical touristy vistas of mosques.
The violence is taken down a notch. I don't know whether this was for ratings purposes or not, but there's none of the brutality of Mills character in the first. It's all pretty ho-hum. The action scenes are likewise. I do find it funny that a girl who's meant to be struggling to do parallel parking can do handbrake turns the next minute, but that's the sort of things the director is probably hoping you'll miss.
No characters in it are developed to any great degree. Neeson is pretty one dimensional as Mills, whilst Grace and Janssen are merely plot aids. The customary bad guy, played by Rade Serbedzija, is merely motivated by revenge, and given no chance to be any more than just the inevitable nemesis for the climactic scene.
For a film backed by Luc Besson, you'd have hoped for a little more. The first one maybe did so well because everyone thought it'd be terrible, when in fact it was pretty decent. This one, you hoped, would hit the same heights. Sadly, it doesn't. I'd say it'd be a pretty safe guess that number 3 won't be on its way anytime soon. Unless of course, this does well at the box office. In which case, you can probably bet on it.