Weekly Review, pt. 2 -- Not quite so, ahem... taken

Taken 2 (2012) -- In 2008, director Pierre Morel and writer/producer Luc Besson created a sensation with the dynamic, take-no-prisoners Taken. Four years later, the franchise is in full swing, but, unfortunately, Olivier Megaton's sequel does not hold a candle to Morel's film, flailing both in terms of a plausible story and in terms of action sequences.

Following the events of Taken, retired CIA operative Bryan Mills (Liam Neeson) is rebuilding relationships with daughter Kim (Maggie Grace) and ex-wife Lenore (Famke Janssen). When Lenore tells him that she and her husband are divorcing, Bryan takes her and Kim on what is supposed to be a relaxing holiday in Istanbul. The vacation takes a brutal turn when Bryan and Lenore are kidnapped by the father of one of the men that Bryan had killed in Paris. Now it is up to Kim to rescue her parents...

... which is one of the wildest plot developments that I have ever encountered and only one of the far-fetched elements that the film expects us to buy. Sure, the original was far from a documentary, but it possessed a sense of rushed excitement, a suspenseful script with a purpose and compelling characters we rooted for. It also managed to achieve something that not many blockbusters do, bringing the timely social issue of human trafficking into the mainstream. The sequel plays out like a cheap and empty vehicle to cash in on the success, dumbing down its characters and placing them in absurd predicaments, all the while experimenting with unnecessary violence and occasionally making us feel like we are watching a Saw installment. In fact, at times, it feels like a parody of Taken. When exactly did Kim become a superhero? Even when we realize that there is no one else to search for Bryan and Lenore at that moment, the sheltered daughter suddenly becoming Lara Croft is a stretch. Is no one paying attention to grenades exploding all over Istanbul? Anyone? Turkish police must not be too happy with the way the film portrays their efficacy. Why do the bad guys chasing Kim not simply use their guns to wound her and then snatch her? Because the film would have ended much sooner, that is why. Stealing clothes and looking suspiciously panicked turns out to be a nice method of blending in, by the way. Seriously, there is a fine line between suspension of disbelief and just, well... disbelief. As the first film had proved, action does not need to be mindless.

Even the action and fight scenes are not thought out, with this flaw affecting all of the performances. Neeson is great at this type of role, but here he does not get to use Bryan's resourcefulness that much. Instead, the film relies on shooting, more shooting, a couple of fistfights and some truly crazy driving, compounded by even crazier editing. All these scenes appear hurried, as though each one merely serves the purpose of moving the proceedings along to the next shootout. The actors appear to be at the mercy of the film's relentless pace, when the situation should be reversed. While Lenore is given some great new dimensions for the excellent Janssen to explore, the character is mostly pushed aside in favor of brawny kinetics. Grace manages to eschew her over-the-top acting style from the first film, but her role leaves a lot to be desired. Finally, veteran performer Rade Serbedzija seems to be wondering what he is doing here, making the best of his few cliché bad guy lines. Had the screenplay been darker and sharper, the dialogue about death that his character Murad has with Bryan would have packed more of an emotional punch. As it is, it sticks out like a sore thumb in a sea of bullets and explosions.  

Taken 2 is not what it should have been. It is not an eloquent film that cares about the figures involved or about the story it is telling. Rather, it is a frenetic, run-of-the-mill actioner, cranked out to bring in loads and loads of cash. Guess what? Taken 3 is in the works. One can only hope that logic is not the element that gets hijacked this time.  

5/10