Saw the trailer at the cinema today. Based on that, I wonder if this will be one of those rare movies where the sequel actually outdoes the first. It looks that good.

And I love the outside the box thinking. Early on, Liam is about to be captured; he knows his wife is captured; he calls and warns his daughter while he has a few seconds left. He says she has to run, right away. That he is about to be...taken!

Great twist on the original.

I'll include the trailer here...



The logline doesn't quite jibe with the trailer.
It says that Liam Neeson is also taken hostage.
But there's nary any evidence of that in the footage.

Honestly... The revenge angle bores me here.
There was no real connection between hero and villain in the first film.
And this ain't no Die Hard with a Vengeance.
The daughter on the run might be fun... if the actress can carry scenes.
Why not re-team with the original director?
They used the director of that lame Unknown instead. I've got doubts.

Regards,
E.D.

It's not completely clear in this trailer. But the one in the theater is slightly different. Liam is in fact taken, which I think is a cool twist. They show him being interrogated in the theater trailer.

Obviously he escapes, and then spends the rest of the film trying to recover his wife. I'm not sure what goes on with the daughter, but it looks like she is chased through the film by the bad guys.

Revenge is definitely a big part of the theme. That's why the bad guys are after him, revenge motive connected to the first movie.

If Liam's wife dies, this might also evolve into revenge on his part, but it seems to be mostly rescue story on his end.

Having the daughter be more active really adds a component. So we have Liam trying to rescue, as in the first, but we also have an escape story.

I think this is a great way of keeping in theme with the original, and adding a fresh element.

I couldn't answer the director questions. But isn't that normal? Don't they often avoid the same director for sequels in order to give it a fresh look? I don't know. Not my field.

I suspect if one liked the first one, they will like this one. Time will tell.

Eh.  I like Liam Neeson killing things as much as the next guy, but the revenge motive is just too bland for me.  Hopefully if the movie recognizes how much trashy fun it CAN BE and gets a sense of humor, it'll be worth watching.

caught wind of an early review a few months back.

overall, the reviewer really enjoyed it. it wasn't absolutely stunning, but if you enjoyed the first, he said you'll love the sequel.

yes, liam and his wife are kidnapped. and yes, liam has to guide his daughter through various obstacles in order to break free. it sounds cheesy, but the reviewer said it worked. it was creative, fun, and more of liam neeson kicking ass.

an added tidbit. apparently the "bad guys" within the sequel are all family members of that one guy who was electrocuted to death in first film.

Asteroid, I don't revenge is the main motive. It's the motive for the bad guys, yes. The protag's motive is to get his wife back and help his daughter run to safety.

I predict the film will be successful, based on what I saw in the trailer.

Damn it!  What the hell, Kev?  I thought you didn't watch a lot of movies!?  I've been checking in here and there and noticed you've watched quite a few lately.

We had a blood pact to be the first successful screenwriters who didn't watch a lot of movies!  Don't go back on it, now, Kev.  Don't go back now.

I'm kidding.  I've actually watched a few here and there, too.  'Warrior' was awesome.  But sequels I'll still barely bat an eyelash at.  'Taken' was all right, I guess.  I didn't quite get into it, but I remember a lot of the scenes pretty intimately now just thinking about it, so I guess I was more fond of it than I thought at the time.

Hey, Mark. Yeah, trying to make up for lost time! Watching a lot on Netflix too.

I look at movies differently now too. I look at a movie not just whether I like it, but whether I think it will be successful. And I look at them as an aspiring writer.

I didn't love Taken. But I understand why it works and appreciate it from that perspective. It's not a movie you watch more than once. But it's a smooth ride full of action and suspense, and it pretty much holds your interest to the end. Not so easy for films to do, I'm discovering.

As a writer, I think that a sequel for Taken would be a challenge. And based on the trailer, I really appreciate where they went with it.

Saw it monday night at a special event where Liam Neeson and Olivier Megaton (cool name btw.) were present and did a quick Q&A. That was pretty cool. That was also about the only cool thing about that night.

Taken II is...meh.

Where the first one was stupid but fun, this was just stupid.

SPOILERS

The father of one of the baddies from the first one wants revenge and tracks down Liam in Istanbul where he's helping his ex-wife (Famke Janssen) getting over her separation from her second husband. With them is of course Kim (Maggie Grace).

When the bad guy catches Liam and Famke, he does what every straight thinking baddie would do - he fucking kills them.

Eerrhh, no.

He locks them in a room - unguarded - and drives off to somewhere else while his men try and track down Kim.

Yeah, okay.

Problem is, Liam's got the world's tiniest mobile phone hidden in his socks, and with that he is able to talk his daughter across the roof tops of Istanbul - where she's throwing grenades left and right so Liam can hear if she is getting closer - until she's able to drop a gun down a chimney into Liam's waiting hands.

Yeah, okay.

So Liam then kicks major ass and after resucing his daughter from more bad guys he realizes that - darn it - he forgot his wife back at the place where they were being held. So he goes back and - surprise, suprise - the baddie has taken her. Again.

So now he has to find his wife. A car chase ensues where Liam is constantly yelling "Faster" and Maggie Grace screaming "I can't". But of course she can, and she does, plowing through a squad of firing US Marines at the US Embassy.

And while you may think that the US Embassy people might want to question Liam about why he decided to gate crash the embassy, well, apparently that's not how it works because a few minutes later Liam is back in the chase.

Yeah, okay.

Liam tracks down the main baddie to a Turkish bath where he's holding his wife - no, she's not nude - and after Liam beats up the almost-main-baddie, he and Mister Main Baddie have a meaningful exchange of opinions, "you killed my son", "he kidnapped my daughter", "that doesn't matter, you killed him", "he started". A couple of seconds later Liam puts a cap in his ass.

And the Liams apparently live happily ever after.

The movie does has one major thing going for it though: Maggie Grace in a bikini. Unfortunately, it stays on her.

Other than that...meh.

Sounds like about as good a movie as I expected from the director of Unknown.
I couldn't stand how lazy and slapdash that movie was. Oh well.
Another decent title gets marginalized for a cash grab!

Regards,
E.D.

Quoted from Electric Dreamer Sounds like about as good a movie as I expected from the director of Unknown.

Somebody actually directed Unknown?

Yeah, this movie follows in the same footsteps as Unknown. And something else bugged me about Taken II, the action scenes (fights and car chases) seemed somehow too slow, like the editing was...off.

Quoted from Electric Dreamer Sounds like about as good a movie as I expected from the director of Unknown.

It's not the director's fault.
It's the screenwriter's fault!


Is.. Is that... Boris the Blade?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dxv3tMyIoiM

Unknown was directed by Jaume Collet-Serra.  He also directed House of Wax and Orphan - 2 flicks that I actually liked.

Quoted from Electric Dreamer Sounds like about as good a movie as I expected from the director of Unknown. I couldn't stand how lazy and slapdash that movie was. Oh well. Another decent title gets marginalized for a cash grab! Regards, E.D.

Like it or not, they definitely grabbed some cool club scenes. Although obviously not as cool as the club scene in Collateral.

Quoted from Dreamscale Unknown was directed by Jaume Collet-Serra.  He also directed House of Wax and Orphan - 2 flicks that I actually liked.

Got to agree with Jeff here. All three of those films (Orphan in many ways) succeeded in what they set out to do: entertain us popcorn-style.

Andrew, maybe we can start agreeing on all sorts of stuff!  

Yeah, I went into Orphan thinking it was going to be abysmal.  I was very impressed though.

House of Wax was skewered by critics and fans alike, but I thought it was pretty cool and pretty well done, as well.  But, I may have a soft spot in my heart (or somewhere a little south of there actually) for any movie that has Elisha Cuthbert - smoking hot.

Based on Sniper's rehash, this Taken 2 thing sounds like a real piece of shite.  Love the dropping grenades on the roofs and then dropping a gun down the exact chimney where Liam is waiting...HaHa...sounds terrible.

So, why did someone say this was directed by that guy in the first place?

Yeah, House of Wax was what it was. Wasn't attempting to be Martyrs. It was enjoyable. Gotta agree on the Cuthbert analysis. Always a big fan of her contemporary in Rachael Leigh Cook, too.

Oh, I'm sure we'll get agreement on beautiful women until the cows come home!

Decided to go along to the cinema and watch this one last night and, yeah, not much to add. I really enjoyed the first movie but this one doesn’t really present a new angle to the franchise. In fact, it was a little bit of a letdown in all honesty.

Most the action felt lazy and unoriginal, the car chase scene involving the protags having to get past a speeding train just in time before the bad guys are hit for instance.

Another weakness was the fact that they never truly explored the new supposed direction of Mills (Neeson) being captured. His expected escape with the help of his daughter was all too easy and the bad guys just lacked any real threat in this one.

I think Neeson was okay, he wasn’t helped by a very basic script which was devoid of surprises.

No sooner has Liam Neeson got his loved ones back, they're already talking someone else getting "Taken" so he can go around shooting bad guys. And it's not about the story but money this time - who would have thought that?

http://www.firstshowing.net/2012/robert-mark-kamen-says-fox-wants-to-make-taken-3-for-the-money/

Who could be taken this time? His dog perhaps.

Quoted from Dreamscale Unknown was directed by Jaume Collet-Serra.  He also directed House of Wax and Orphan - 2 flicks that I actually liked.

Hey Jeff,

You're right. My bad.
This director's last film was Columbiana.
Which I found to be an utterly boilerplate experience.

Caught this on BluRay over the weekend...
And wow, what a snoozefest.

I'm a little shocked Fox trusted this guy with the franchise.
He sorta muffed Transporter 3 for them a few years ago.

There's an alternate ending to Taken 2 that was intriguing.
In the original cut, Neeson rescues his wife as well.

BUT... He goes back to GUN DOWN all the baddies anyway!
You know, just to make sure there isn't a Taken 3.

Some studio exec eventually figured out that might jeopardize the hero status.

Shockingly boring and sleepy action scenes.
They all felt like they were playing out at 75% speed to me.
There's like ONE FIST FIGHT in the first FORTY MINTUES?!?
Seriously?

E.D.

For all the posts here, looks like only a couple of actual reviews.

I wasn't a big fan of the original, but it definitely wasn't bad.  I am not a fan of this either, but it is pretty bad...not horrible, but not at all good.

So slow for the opening 15 minutes.  Poor acting all around, IMO.  Didn't seem remotely believable.

A few decent chases and gun play.  Actually enjoyed the final confrontation with the little Turkish dude in the bath house - well choreographed and both Liam and he looked like they knew how to fight in close quarters, hand to hand.

I do enjoy Rade Serbedziga ever since I saw him in Eyes Wide Shut.  He's a good actor and he carries a solid screen presence.  Too bad he came off here as such a  nitwit.  But then again, all the baddies were idiots.

Very little story and plot here.  Very little going on, actually other than chases and fights.  Everything was way too easy for Liam and company and really came off quite cheesy, silly,  and stupid.

Final question - Maggie Grace is the daughter.  She's 30 years old in real life.  How old is she supposed to be in this movie?  I mean, an ongoing plot point was that she hadn't passed her driving test until the very end.  WTF?

Not good by any means, but we all know damn well we can do much worse.