Taken 2 REVIEW

The "Motion Picture Buff" would like to present his review for the feature film, "Taken 2." This film takes place in Istanbul, Turkey. Retired CIA operative Brian Mills and his family are on vacation when the father of a kidnapper Brian killed when saving his daughter seeks revenge. 

Well lets begin with the positives shall we? Well I am going to have to say again that the acting that Liam Neeson gives us in this film is great. He pulls off the role of Brian Mills again with a superb performance. Maggie Grace still does wonderful as his daughter, Kim. They still have that amazing chemistry they shared in the first film. Famke Janssen plays the mother of Kim. She did in the first film. You never really saw much of her in "Taken" but in this film she really excels, well done. Rade Serbedzija is the villain in this film and he can play one pretty well.  Now I really did enjoy the action scenes in this film, they kept you on the edge of your seat once again. They were again bad-ass as in the first film. 

So the negatives from this film. Well let me just say that the first film is WAY better than the second. The direction and the camera angles of this film were that shaky camera type, and I found them okay in some spots. Sometimes I found them extremely distracting and annoying. How come they never brought back the original director for this film?  Then there was the plot again . . . REALLY? What really happened in this film? What I mean by this is that the movie was over just as it began really. It was really slow in the beginning of the film, dedicating a lot of time to build up. Then they built up to something that was quick and never really lasted long. You just felt like the movie was over as soon as it began. Way to fast-paced of a film. Then there was the fact that a girl with NO training at all, did what she did. That is just ridiculous, there is no way that is possible. Then the premise of this film also had bothered me. Revenge on the guy who killed your son because your son kidnapped your daughter? No I found the premise of this film to be ill thought of a dumb. Then there is the music. In the first film it was good, this film it . . . SUCKED! I felt like it intruded on the scenes and I found it to be extremely annoying. 

So all-in-all what did I think of "Taken 2?" Well it was a good mindless action flick. If you like action just to see action you will enjoy this. Otherwise this film does not have much going for it. I will give it the rating of popcorn flick along with rent worthy. As for the rating out of five, "Taken 2" will get a 2/5 rating. 

Well thanks for reading . . . so to answer the question of seeing this film or not this weekend, well that is up to you really. If you like mindless action then yes. If your looking for a really good movie to see . . . pick something else like "Looper" if you haven't seen that yet. Well now make sure you stay tuned for more reviews of motion pictures . . . coming soon.

The Motion Picture Buff