Taken 2

Ratings: 7.7/10

Film Class: B

Genre: Action Thriller

Retired CIA agent, Bryan Mills (Liam Neeson) must once again save his family from the syndicate who kidnapped his daughter back in part 1. Now, gathering more men to hunt Liam Neeson down, and having the advantage of first strike, the father of the deceased lead kidnapper badly wants his revenge...  

*spoilers ahead* The opening scene was real intimidating, and for a moment there, thought Liam Neeson might actually lose this fight. But thank god, writer Luc Besson sure knows how to keep his fans happy. However, this time round, he's having a tougher fight because he's a step behind. For those of you who aren't acquainted with his character, fret not, regardless of the odds, he's always going to make the bad guys pay... 

*major spoilers ahead* This sequel is very different from the first. There's more "story" to it, and less explosive action. You could literally count them with 3 fingers (3 grenades). There's a stronger character feel and all the main characters were given a good amount of screen time, unlike the first where the movie was totally owned by Liam Neeson. 

His daughter, Maggie Grace, even though I can't stand her unconvincing acting, brought a new dimension to the plot as his unexpected "sidekick". Afterall, every hero needs a sidekick, eventually. The ingenuity of how he got his daughter to locate his whereabouts was super cool and super original. Though I didn't really rationalise if it even made sense, I'm sure most of you will feel the same way. The showdown between the head villain and Liam Neeson was a little disappointing, but was still a scene worth remembering. 

I hate to compare this with Part 1, but if you're wondering, I prefer the first because he was more invincible then. Less fast paced for Taken 2, but more brains exerted for Liam Neeson. There's in-the-movie talk about yet another possible sequel, but don't bother waiting for any after-credits scene because there're non. I sure hope the franchise stops here, the way I see it, the only possible direction to make it different is to down play Liam Neeson again, for him to suffer/tortured before rising up again. And that's not something I wanna see from my live action hero.

Something worth mentioning, not sure if it was intended, is that in Taken 1, his daughter was "taken". But in this film, Taken 2, him and his wife were "taken". I find it coincidentally apt that "2 were taken". So does that mean if ever a 3 were to come up, all 3 would be taken? I can only wonder for now...