User blog:Porterfield/Taken 2 Review Roundup

According to the film's writer, Luc Besson, Taken 2 will be the only sequel to the surprise 2008 hit Taken, and that seems to be really good news. According to the critics, this sequel shouldn't have been made it the first place. I've heard it been called more of remake than a sequel anyway, considering the entire plot of the first movie was that Liam Neeson's character's daughter gets kidnapped and he must rescue her. In "Taken 2", Neeson and his wife are kidnapped as revenge for the first film, and his daughter must help them escape. You might say the plot isn't that similar, but consider that most of the screen time is taken up by Neeson kicking Albanian ass and some car chases. Yes, just like the first film.

Anyway, check out these reviews and once you've seen the film, provide your own review in the comments section below. I presume you won't be seeing this movie unless A) You really loved "Taken", B) You really love Liam Neeson, or C) You have nothing better to do this weekend.

Loved It
''As far as Moviepedia is aware, no top movie critics loved Taken 2. If you find an extremely positive review, please post it in the comments section below.''

Peter Howell - Toronto Star
Score: 2 out of 4 stars

Excerpt: When an enraged Murad asks Mills why he killed his son, and Mills replies that the son kidnapped and abused Kim and dozens of other girls, Murad’s response roughly translates as, “Details, details!” And don’t let those details keep you from enjoying this so-bad-it’s-good experience, which is funnier than most comedies. If you go to the theatre with this in mind, you’ll avoid disappointment — and you won’t feel taken, too.

Roger Ebert - Chicago Sun-Times
Score: 3 out of 4 stars

Excerpt: "Taken 2" is slick, professional action, directed by Olivier Megaton. Let that name roll off your tongue (Olivier, not Oliver). It was produced and co-written by Luc Besson, the French master of thrillers, and Robert Mark Kamen, his writing partner on many films.

===Scott Bowles - USA Today=== Score: 2.5 out of 4 stars

Excerpt: And for about half of this sequel, the approach works just fine. At times, Taken 2 even steps from the shadows of the original with some terrifying imagery and an improved relationship between father and daughter. Alas, the movie can't help but descend into a pat part two, bereft of much suspense or tension.

Wesley Morris - Boston Globe
Score: 2 out of 4 stars

Excerpt: It’s a stupid movie by smart people who aren’t smart enough to realize it’s stupid. The absurdity grows like mold in the dank, dark of seriousness. So it’s fun for some of the right reasons, but mostly for the wrong ones.

Kenneth Turan - LA Times
Score: 3 out of 5 stars

Excerpt: Neeson's empathetic performing skills put him in a different category than the usual suspects for this kind of a part. His acting makes him seem human and even vulnerable, someone we can't help but worry over even though it's those feckless Albanians we should be nervous about.

Steven Rea - Philadelphia Inquirer
Score: 2 out of 4 stars

Excerpt: aken 2 has been directed by Olivier Megaton (Transporter 3, Colombiana - I will resist the temptation to call Taken 2 a Megaton bomb), from a script by France's hyperactive Luc Besson. When Bryan first suspects he's being followed, he and Lenore are on their way to see the sights, leaving Kim behind at the hotel.

Roger Moore - McClatchy-Tribune News Service
Score: 1.5 out of 4 stars

Excerpt: In nature, lightning occasionally strikes the same place twice. In the movies, it almost never happens. So as good as Liam Neeson was in “Taken,” as good as he often is in “Taken 2,” the sequel — about the family of all those Albanians he killed in “Taken” taking their revenge — is an often silly movie where the strain to stay credulous shows.

Ann Hornaday - Washington Post
Score: 1 out of 4 stars

Excerpt: By the time “Taken 2” stages a second, ludicrously conceived car chase, which leads to an equally absurd tableau of macho posturing in a Turkish bath, the entire enterprise feels as false and tidy as the tasteful drop of blood that adorns Bryan’s chin.

Lou Lumenick - New York Post
Score: 1.5 out of 4 stars

Excerpt: Four years ago, there was novelty value in seeing an actor with Neeson’s gravitas turning mad action hero. But Neeson’s done it several times since, with diminishing returns, in other paycheck jobs. Olivier Megaton, the wonderfully named Besson protégé who directed, stages action sequences clumsily and edits them so frantically it looks like the whole movie was run through a Cuisinart.

Neil Genzlinger - New York Times
Score: 2 out of 5 stars

Excerpt: What follows seems like a nonstop car and foot chase, with Albanian after Albanian falling victim to Bryan’s remarkable aim and hand-fighting skills. Foreigners bad, Americans good, box office busy.

Wikian Reviews
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