Taken 2: Unrated Cut (2012) Review

Series: Taken (2/3)

Version: Unrated Cut

Director: Olivier Megaton

Cast: Liam Neeson, Maggie Grace, Famke Janssen, Rade Serbedzija, Leland Orser, etc.

Country: France / United States

Taken 2 is a decent action sequel along the lines of Under Siege 2, Mission Impossible 2, Death Wish 2, Return of the Seven, or Iron Man 2. They are all decent sequels that do a decent job as a follow up but in no way equal or surpass the first film in its franchise.  I don't hate any of these sequels either. To me, they exist, provide us a reason to watch the protagonists kick more butt, and help us the viewer pass the time with a nice and simple film that won't challenge us in any way. However, when compared to their predecessors, they do not make the same big splash in any way, shape, or form.

Taken 2 is exactly that; a simple, decent, flawed, but serviceable sequel. In the pantheon of action films, Taken 2 is white noise. However, if you are a die hard action fan like I am, you can't ignore a sequel to one of the best action films in years. And here I am now, ready to review the film for you. Aren't you so lucky?

Some nice father/daughter bonding time.

Taken 2 takes place what seems to be a few months after the first film? I can't really tell. Anyways, after the events of the first film (Neeson's daughter was kidnapped, he tracked the captors down, and killed them all nice and simple), Neeson can't stop being over protective of his daughter. When he hears that she is at her boyfriend's house instead of being ready for her driver's test, he goes on over to that guy's house and barges in! Poor Bryan Mills (Neeson's character) just wants to be a good dad but can't realize when he should be giving someone their distance. Besides, his daughter Kim (Maggie Grace) was sold as a sex slave. I think even I would be overprotective of my daughter if something that traumatizing occurred.

Anyways,  Lenore's (Bryan's ex-wife played by Famke Janssen) current husband leaves her and Kim for no reason at all really. He simply drives away and we as an audience are given no reason why. I like to think that he realized how badass Liam Neeson is and chose to get out of there before Neeson snapped his neck one day, but probably not. Anyways, Bryan offers the family the chance to come on vacation with him after he is done working in Istanbul. What seems like a great vacation immediately goes down the crapper as the father (Rade Serbedzija) of one of the men killed in the first film now wants his revenge for his son's death. Bryan now has to try and protect his family as he himself is taken. What follows is a mediocre and decent action film that only die hard action fans will find pleasure in.

Rade "Always The Bad Guy" Serbedzija

The first problem with Taken 2 is its editing, photography, and directing. Director Olivier Megaton, editors Camile Delamarre and Vincent Tabaillon, and cinematographer Romain Lacourbas cannot create exciting or effective action sequences. The shots are too close up and the cuts are far too rapid. The action scenes are extremely difficult to make out.

Take the first action scene for example. As Bryan Mills runs from some bad guys, he eventually runs into a handful of them in a small opening amongst the tight alleys of Istanbul. The men than have a night stick fight with Bryan. Liam Neeson has never appeared slower than ever before! Go back and watch some of the melee fights in the first Taken. Liam Neeson appears so skilled! In Taken 2 though, he looks like a novice fighter! What happened in between these two films? Did Neeson forget his training?

Another major problem with the film is that the final action scene is a lame fist fight between Bryan and Murad's right hand man. This scene is so boring! I know that older American actors cannot usually perform such intricate fight sequences, but this is just your basic punch-stab-block routine. It doesn't help that the fight is cutting every hundreth of a second either! It's the kind of fight that you would find in a DTV Steven Seagal flick, not a Taken movie.

First Kimmy and now Lenore? Bryan can't catch a break.

I think the film's biggest error occurs around the one hour mark. After a decent car chase, Bryan Mills has to crash his way into an American Embassy. As soon as Bryan Mills is officially safe and on U.S. soil, the very next scene cuts to Bryan in a black leather jacket walking around the city looking for his kidnapped wife. Why does the film skip such a huge portion of the film? This entire film takes place over the course of a few hours, and we have been with these characters every step of the way. And for some reason, the film skips a giant gap of time that could provide us viewers with a breather and than immediately plunges us right back into badass Neeson mode. I thought this was truly the film's biggest error and it is completely unforgivable for a film that has been all about how Liam Neeson's methods and skills get him through his problems. This problem of dealing with the U.S. embassy is completely skipped and makes me question how the writers could write such an error into the film.

After all of my bad mouthing, you may think I really dislike this film. On the contrary, for all of its flaws, I found this to be a pretty enjoyable action sequel. Liam Neeson is just as great as ever as Bryan Mills, the one dad that you do not want to mess with. He still gets to use really unique skills of his to solve his problems. I really enjoyed each reveal of Neeson's skills throughout. All of the supporting cast do a serviceable job, especially Rade Serbedziga. Rade is one of the most recognizable character actors in film and T.V. While Rade did not have great material to work with here, it was nice to have a single solitary villain for a Taken film.

This guy on the left doesn't realize it's Neeson Season.

The film also has a cool shootout right at the very end. Bryan Mills has to work his way through an abandoned apartment complex and shoot and stab every bad guy he comes across. I love action scenes like this and found the set up for this one to be pretty awesome. The Unrated Cut of this film adds lots of blood during scenes like this. Therefore, the Unrated Cut is the way to go when watching any Taken film. I also loved all of the dark colors through the film. The colors in Taken are pretty bright and loud. This film on the other hand tones all of the colors down to a very dark level. I find the subject matter of both Taken films to be very dark and serious. Therefore, I thought this was a big upgrade in the sequel that I really enjoyed. 

As most action films go, our action icon normally beats up and/or kills a lot of baddies. Unlike the first Taken, Bryan Mills only kills a small handful of bad guys. He nearly goes on a massacre in the first film. In Taken 2, he only has a small group of bad guys to deal with; and not various groups or an entire organization of women traffickers like in Taken.

I also enjoyed seeing Bryan's daughter Kim have to actually help him get out of his captivity in this film. Instead of just being the captive, Kim has to work with her dad on the phone and help get him his weapons to him. The film also ends on a note that sets up an obvious sequel. With Taken 3 currently in pre-production, time can only tell how good it will be. As a die hard action fanatic, I look forward to it anyway.

My favorite cap of the film.

So is Taken 2 worth watching? I'll break it down like this. If you are a die hard action fan like me, check it out. Even though you will be mostly disappointed, any chance to watch Neeson kick butt and nab a body count is always a treat. However, the film is a major step down in quality in contrast to the excellent Pierre Morel Taken. I recommend checking out this film only as a rental and in preparation for the eventual Taken 3 (also directed by Oliver Megaton, oh boy).

Rating: 6/10 - Taken 2 is a decent action sequel that suffers from poor editing and weak plotting. Only the film's lead performance, dark color palette, and final shootout leave me wanting to revisit the flick.

Best Kill / Beatdown: I love when one of the bad guys tries to kick at Bryan. Bryan catches the guy's foot and than shoots into it 3 times!

Best Performance: Neeson, who else?

Best Action Scene: Definitely the abandoned building shootout. Bryan racks up his biggest kill count here and fires a whole lot of bullets. None of these guys stand a chance, it's Liam Neeson for goodness sakes!