Taken (2008) may have left many of those who went to see it with the impression that there was no one in Europe left for Bryan Mills (Liam Neeson) to kill. Apparently there are enough caricatured Albanian gangsters left to warrant a sequel, the simply titled Taken 2. The action now moves from Paris to Istanbul where Bryan, his daughter, Kim (Maggie Grace, who somehow managed to come out of the last film completely unscathed) and now friendly ex-wife, Lenore (Famke Jannsen) are on holiday. Lenore is promptly captured by some more of those pesky Albanians and Bryan goes off to find her while Kim is left to fend for herself.
The plot isn’t what makes people want to go and see Taken though, it’s the opportunity to turn one’s brain off and put your feet up while an unreasonably big body count piles up before you. It’s a typical Luc Besson (who writes and produces both of the Taken movies) film where the ridiculous nature of the plot is only overshadowed by the even more ridiculous violence. Taken 2 will certainly bring more of the same sort of thrill that the original did, sure the director’s changed but that hardly matters. The appropriately named, Olivier Megaton directs this time who, like previous director Pierre Morel, has worked with Besson on a number of projects before, including the critically panned Hitman (2007).
So perhaps the story will be weak and the violence silly, but at least this means that there’s another film with Liam Neeson in it who has proved over the past couple of years just how intriguing an action star he can be. Anyone who saw the absolutely mesmerising, The Grey earlier this year will surely agree.
