Set of Skills

It's been ages since my last post. Sorry sorry apologies. For this post I'm going to review the sequel to the 2008 hit, Taken,which established Liam Neeson as an action star. Without Taken, there wouldn't be Unknown, The Grey, or even Taken 2 (obviously). Actually the premise is kinda stupid because being taken again? seriously? Now Kim's parents are taken? seriously? But Taken 2 promises full-action and new setting, Istanbul. Is it worth the shot then?

The story is that the Albanian family from the people Bryan Mills (Neeson) killed are seeking revenge. Mills himself is currently taking a security job in Istanbul, Turkey. Her ex-wife Lenore (Janssen) is having a marriage problem so Mills took her and her daughter to Istanbul for a holiday. The Albanian family, led by Murad, the father of the guy who got electrocuted in the legs until he died, knew they are in Istanbul and they wanted to bring Mills to Albania to kill him.

That's pretty much the story. The title itself is its own spoiler. The original Taken bravely took a serious story about human trafficking, this one doesn't. Taken 2 is just action action action without memorable story and scenes. The logic is also strange. At one point, Mills told Kim to use grenades in the middle of the city for the sake of showing off his set of skills of hearing sounds to determine location. Grenades man, grenades. Where were the bloody police in Istanbul where there's an explosion and no one cared? Not only once, but three times Kim threw grenades. The editing is also all over the place. It comes to a point where making a scene looks strange. For example, a criminal is killed because Liam Neeson facepalmed him? Makes perfect sense right? Well if you look at the film's Wikipedia page it was explained how he died, but we need visual explanation though. The Albanian is not that tough either, in one scene they let Mills make a phone call for such a long time. Are they not afraid Mills would call the police or someone else? Looking on the bright side, Liam Neeson is still as kick-ass as he was but lacking logic and rationalism. As Bryan Mills said, "I'm tired of it all", I hope there isn't Taken 3 somewhere near in the future. Taken 2: rated 2 out of 4.