Though he has had one of the most
successful careers in Hollywood and has brought several charismatic and engaging
characters to the silver screen, veteran actor Liam Neeson cemented his
reputation as an undeniable badass with 2008’s Taken, a modest juggernaut that took audiences by storm and
represented a veritable goldmine. Given
that kind of success, it didn’t surprise anyone when 20th Century
Fox announced a sequel and audience buzz went through the roof for one of the
most anticipated films of the fall season.
Yet, many had to question whether the sequel could really advance the
story of the original; if it was a stretch to believe that anyone would be
foolish enough to mess with Neeson’s character again, how were we supposed to
swallow that his family would travel to Istanbul after the last ill-conceived
trip? And imagine my surprise when I saw
that Taken 2 only had a meager 7%
pre-release approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes; if this sequel really was as
horrible as it had been labeled by critics, it would represent one of the
biggest cinematic let-downs in years.
Then again, I would be happy if this film was simply 90 minutes of terrorists
lining up to get their necks snapped by Neeson, so regardless of what critics
were saying, there was no way I was going to miss Taken 2.
Overall
Recommendation: Medium
While it certainly doesn’t match
the 2008 original, Taken 2 is nowhere
near as bad as some critics would have you believe, thanks largely to another
strong Neeson performance that overshadows otherwise mediocre elements. Sadly, most of the charm that was present in
the original Taken is missing in this
installment, and overall energy is considerably lower, thereby marking a large
disparity between what was promised and what was ultimately presented. Perhaps the biggest misstep came from Luc
Besson granting directorial reigns to Oliver Megaton, who inexplicably chose
shaky camerawork to transform most of the fight scenes from exciting to
nauseating. There are enough creative
spy elements to maintain Liam Neeson’s reputation as reigning cinematic
ass-kicker, but outside of him, the rest of the appeal for this sequel is
razor-thin. Taken 2 may not be overtly terrible, but it certainly didn’t
live-up to pre-release hype, and that means that, unlike its predecessor, this
sequel is far from a must-see.
