TAKEN 2

Taken 2 (2012)
Grade: C-
Starring: Liam Neeson, Maggie Grace, Famke Janssen, Rade Serbedzija and Luke Grimes
Premise: Bryan Mills and his wife and daughter are menaced by international terrorists while on a vacation to Istanbul.

RATED PG-13 for intense action, language and brief torture-related images

Embarrassing. That's the word for Taken 2, a perfect example of an unnecessary movie that was only made because its predecessor, 2009's Taken, made an impressive splash at the box office ($145 million) and became a sort-of classic. That film wasn't an Oscar-winner or a groundbreaker, but it took an actor everyone knows (Liam Neeson) and turned him into a badass, looking to steal back his kidnapped teen daughter (Maggie Grace) from smelly Albanian sex traffickers. He did get her back, of course, making good on a promise ("I will find you, and I will kill you") he made to a particularly ill-fated Albanian named Marco (from Tropoya).

Opting to go by the mantra "if it ain't broke, don't fix it", the original's creators, Luc Besson and Robert Mark Kamen, have punched out a lazy sequel that is not only less invigorating than the first but barely even interesting on its own terms. Basically, the family and friends of the Albanians who didn't make the first film's end credits want revenge, so, when Bryan Mills (Neeson) is on a business trip to Istanbul, they opt to strike. The only problem is, his ex-wife (Famke Janssen) and daughter decided to spring a surprise visit on him. Thus, there are more targets for the Albanian baddie (Rade Serbedzija) and his cronies to kidnap. But Bryan Mills is dangerous even when he and his ex are handcuffed and chained up in a dungeon, even when he's unarmed and his only contact to the outside world is his daughter, who managed to escape capture. He's Bryan Mills. And he will kill you.

You know the drill--Liam Neeson's Mills is basically MacGyver crossed with James Bond, Jason Bourne and Chuck Norris, able to break out of any bonds, remember every little convenient detail of every little setting, able to disarm a bearded baddie at moment's notice, and, though he's mortal, he always saves the day. And Maggie Grace is a cutie, so it's convenient to have her have to start her frantic running from the hotel pool, with her bikini top in plain view while she runs around in an unbuttoned blouse. And though the main characters steal cars, break things and cause havoc, the local police are never more than a minor obstacle avoided about as easily as brushing away a fly. And though Bryan Mills is meant to be unnerved by his captors' giving his ex a cut on the neck that can supposedly drain a terminal amout of blood in 30 minutes, she nonetheless survives the next two hours of running around, and is healthy and happy by the time the screen goes black.

Yeah, the movie is that lazy. Mills wants his daughter to be safe in the local American embassy, so he has her drive at top speed past a group of armed marines, plowing through the front gate and leveling a security check booth. To get an idea of where he is in the city, Mills has his daughter throw grenades around the city so he can time the explosions (sorry about that one dude's car). After dismantling all the old bad guy's minions, he tells the bad guy to piss off and leave him alone, then drops his gun to show that he's extending him mercy. Then he turns and walks away. C'mon, what kind of a self-respecting vengeful baddie doesn't pick up the gun, no matter the high-minded morals of the not-really-such-a-bad-guy hero? Really?

Basically, Taken 2 is a poor effort on all accounts. Neeson is on autopilot, Grace deserves better,  the country of Albania gets embarrassed by how inept its scariest terrorists are, the Istanbul police department gets embarrassed at its incompetence (they can't outdrive a teenager in a yellow cab), and one mano-a-mano fight is dragged out to pathetically theatrical extent just because it's been too easy for Mills to buzzsaw through all the other guys to this point and someone has to show some legitimate opposition! The editing is sloppy, the fights poorly put together, and the ending too weak and schmaltzy.

Bottom Line: This feebly-plotted and too-easy attempt to squeeze dimes out of moviegoers on the coattails of the first movie's success isn't worth your time. Really. Unless you want to be reassured that Albanian terrorists can't hurt anybody.

Taken 2 (2012)
Directed by Olivier Megaton
Written by Luc Besson and Robert Mark Kamen
Rated PG-13
Length: 92 minutes