Taken 2 Review

All of the original players are back for this sequel. Liam Neeson takes on the roll of retired CIA operative Bryan Mills once again. He's juggling life, trying to keep a reign of his crazy almost stalker tendacies and not doing a really good job of it where his daughter, Kim (Maggie Grace),  is concerned. But can you blame the guy, after having to save her from an underground sex ring in the previous flick? All things are not all rainbows and sunshine Kim or her mothe, either. Kim is a little traumatized, by her experience, and though she wants nothing more than to be a normal teenager, she can't entirely bring herself to be. Her mother, Lenore (Famke Janssen), is going through a rocky divorce.

To make matters worse, her soon to be ex husband is being a douche bag, and cancels Lenore's and Kim's trip. Bryan steps in, and offers to meet up with the two in Istanbul after his work is done. Little does he know, the father of the men he killed saving his daughter are out for revenge. This set-up, while interesting, takes a long while to actually take place.

Once in Istanbul, all of the players are in place, and the action really starts ramping up. Bryan and his ex wife Lenore are taken hostage,  and between Bryan's particular set of skills and Kim's desire to help they've got to save the day.

Taken 2 is the same high paced, adrenaline ride as the first Taken, but it lacks an element of surprise that the original had, and it takes a while to really get going. But it is Liam Neeson, and well he just kicks some major butt. I swear being a badass must be written into his contract. If you love action movies, its a great flick. It's smart, slightly predictable, and thoroughly entertaining but don't expect to see anything outside of the box with this one.

Taken 2 is in theaters today, October 5, 2012