TAKEN 2

Liam Nesson, Famke Janssen,
Maggie Grace, Rade Serbedzija

"First they took his daughter.
Now they're coming for him"

Cinema 2, Shang Cineplex

We have this running joke in our family that if our dad had seen the movie TAKEN, he might not have permitted me and my sister to go gallivanting around Europe. But the movie was shown in 2008 and our European sojourn was way back in the early 2001 so I figure we were relatively safe(r).  Obviously, our dad is no Liam Nesson but I'm certain given the circumstances any father for that matter would go to great lengths to protect his daughter(s).

So given that premise albeit far fetched, the original film sort of made sense.  A former intelligence agent with all the right connections at his disposal could certainly pull off a miracle.  Therefore I was curious how they would further stretch that storyline into another full length film. 

In the opening shots of  "Taken 2", we are shown a village in Albania where all the bad guys that Bryan Mills (Liam Nesson) killed in Paris are being buried and mourned by their loved ones.   At the funeral, Murad Krasniqi (Rade Serbedzija), the father of  Marko, one of the men Bryan took out while saving his kidnapped daughter vows to avenge the death of his son.   

So he rounds up some more goons to capture not just Bryan, but his ex-wife Lenore (Famke Janssen) and daughter Kim (Maggie Grace).   The Mills family are vacationing in Istanbul, Turkey so the whole abduction premise takes off in yet another exotic locale.  The myriad of tiny cobblestone streets, the rooftops of the crowded houses serve as excellent backdrop for Byran's spy skills to come into effect as he tries his best to once again save his loved ones from harm and in the process add up the body count substantially. 

Certain action scenes were shot with the shaky camera effect so it gave me quite a headache. While other moments had Liam Neeson's lanky frame do skillful hand combat with the villains.  Even at his age, Liam Neeson can make the fight scenes look so natural.  They are well choreographed and very realistically executed on screen.  

I kept thinking just how unfortunate it is for the Mills family to constantly find themselves in such precarious situations even when they are on holiday.  But the gorgeous locale with its chaotic and exquisitely exotic charm more than made up for the predictability factor of the flimsy plot.  

Hopefully, there won't be a Taken part 3 because honestly even though I love Liam Neeson and I've been a loyal fan of his movies even before his action hero phase, I believe it's time for the Mills family to live in their peaceful suburban environment without any Albanians or any other races bothering them.