 Unrated Extended Cut and Theatrical Cut - 1 Movie, 2 Cuts Liam Neeson returns as Bryan Mills, the ex-CIA operative who stopped at nothing to rescue his daughter from sadistic kidnappers. When the father of one of the kidnappers swears revenge, it is Bryan and his wife who find themselves "taken" hostage in Istanbul. To survive, Bryan must enlist the help of an unlikely ally and use his brutally efficient skills to take out his heavily-armed foes one by one. Storyline: Bryan Mills, the former CIA man who rescued his daughter Kim from some Albanian human traffickers, is being targeted by the families of the men he killed. When he goes to Istanbul on a job, he invites Kim and her mother, Leonor, whose marriage is on the rocks to join him. When the Albanians learn of this they try to grab them. They get Bryan and Leonor, he warns Kim and she evades them. Later he calls Kim to tell her to go to the Embassy but she insists that he let her help them. Bryan tells her to get his case which is filled with weapons and with that, she finds them and gives him a weapon. He escapes and plans to come back for Leonor but they are too many and is unable to save Leonor. So he relies on his memory to find her. Written by rcs0411@yahoo.com Editor's Note: Taken is a prime example of an action movie that absolutely did not need to be turned into a franchise. Sleek, smart, and expertly choreographed by director Pierre Morel, the film could've—and probably should've—stood alone. Unfortunately, that's not how the box office-obsessed movie industry hive mind works. Once Taken proved successful, a followup seemed inevitable. It's taken four years, but here it is, Taken 2, a film that's as generic and uninspired as its boring old numerically sequential title. I can at least say this—it's not actively bad. There are some serious shortcomings here in terms of action movie storytelling and editing—director Olivier Megaton lacks Morel's visual grace—but Taken 2 is watchable and even moderately entertaining in a few brief stretches. The problem is that it feels so completely non-essential. Saddled with a rote, predictable plot, it leaves us with a withering indifference for the plight of the characters, and really doesn't bring anything new to the genre. Even the action sequences—which should be the film's main selling point—are humdrum, shot and cut together in a way that's adequate at best, headache-inducing at worst. In a way, the film might've been better if it had tried and failed spectacularly at being more ambitious; as it stands, it's simply uninteresting. In an all-too-common move for sequels, the story hinges on revenge. Remember all those Albanian sex traffickers that Liam Neeson's ex-CIA agent Bryan Mills killed en route to rescue his daughter? Well, their families back in the old country are clamoring for eye-for-an-eye retribution. When the film opens, at a funeral for those summarily dispatched by the protective-dad's bullets and fists, grizzled patriarch Murad (a mostly stoic Rade Šerbedžija) stands over his son's open grave and swears—in English, for some reason—that he will not rest until Mills' blood "flows into this very ground." Murad seems non-plussed by the fact that his son, Marko—the first film's baddie—was a vicious kidnapper and seller of women, and who arguably deserved his literally heart stopping comeuppance. (Mills tied him to a chair and electrocuted him.) The tree isn't far from the fallen apple; Murad is a lunatic hell-bent on perpetuating the cycle of violence. Meanwhile, back in Los Angeles, Mills—like all action movie heroes recuperating from their previous adventure—is trying to get his life back to normal. He casually comforts his ex-wife, Lenore (Famke Janssen), who's new husband has left her, and keeps a watchful fatherly eye on his daughter, Kim (Maggie Grace), who's nervous about passing her upcoming driving test. (Whaddaya wanna bet that Kim is forced to drive during a car chase at some point in the film?) Hoping to reconnect, Mills invites them both to Istanbul; he has a private security gig for a few days, but after that he's free to show them around the city. Of course, Murad and his cronies catch wind of this and plan to nab the three of them in one fell swoop. They're not entirely successful—Kim escapes by hiding in a closet—but they do snatch Mills and Lenore, tying them up in some dingy factory. (Where else?) Will the ex- lovers escape? Will they get back together? Will Mills end the tit-for-tat bloodshed once and for all? You already know the answers. It's hard to quantify exactly what makes a good action movie, but good action is certainly a key component. Despite his ridiculous nom de film, director Olivier Megaton's running, gunning, and driving sequences are anything but explosive. Pedestrian is a better word for the generally functional but unimpressive action choreography, which is framed much too closely—and too rapidly cut between multiple camera angles—to really register. The car chases are turgid, the martial arts unspectacular, the gunplay routine—there's nothing here we haven't seen done far better elsewhere. Even the location feels commonplace now; running across Istanbul's Grand Bazaar Rooftop is beginning to seem like a visual cliche after The International and Skyfall. (Sure, Taken 2 came out before the latest Bond picture, but Skyfall makes better use of the locale.) Where the first Taken film is as crisp and energetic as, say, the Bourne movies, this new one is just going through the motions. It's a shame, because Liam Neeson—as post-Taken movies like The Grey and The Unknown have made clear—makes a refreshingly atypical action star. He can do the physical stuff, and at 6'4" he's a hulking bruiser when he needs to be, but he also has that perpetual sadness in his eyes that instantly wins our empathy. We like him. We want him to succeed. And usually, his presence can make even the dumbest movie bearable. (Battleship, anyone?) But not even Neeson's noble countenance can save Taken 2's by-the-numbers story. He growls, he softens, he flies into a rage—it doesn't matter. We just don't care about Bryan Mills' desperate struggle to save his ex-wife and kid. Why? That's harder to pinpoint, but I think it has to do with the nagging realization that the family drama, the potential re-kindling of a long-gone flame, the father/daughter bonding—none of it means much to Megaton and writer/producer Luc Besson, who use it merely as a means to an end, a way to get the characters into motion. The focus is on the action, and when the action isn't exciting, well, what does that leave you with? Note: The disc includes the theatrical cut (1:32:07) and the unrated extended cut (1:38:18), which doesn't fix any of the film's problems but does include a few extra minutes of reincorporated footage. Nothing game-changing. [CSW] -7.6/10- Surprise!!! This movie was as action packed as the first one although the unrated version went past the PG-13 but only slightly onto the R range. Cast Notes: Liam Neeson (Bryan Mills), Maggie Grace (Kim), Famke Janssen (Lenore), Leland Orser (Sam), Jon Gries (Casey), D.B. Sweeney (Bernie), Luke Grimes (Jamie), Rade Serbedzija (Murad Krasniqi [as Rade Sherbedgia]), Kevork Malikyan (Inspector Durmaz), Alain Figlarz (Suko), Frank Alvarez (Car Wash Attendant), Murat Tuncelli (Custom Officer Albania), Ali Yildirim (Imam), Ergun Kuyucu (Mirko), Cengiz Bozkurt (Border Guard #1). IMDb Rating (03/08/13): 8.2/10 from 134,577 users Top 250: #184 IMDb Rating (01/24/13): 8.2/10 from 80,299 users Top 250: #177
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