Taken 2 Review

Taken 2 ***                   Taken down the same road…but at less speed

(Should have been ** really but unlike Brian Mills, I’m soft)

Intro

Taken came out of nowhere and became a cult hit. The cinema takings weren’t amazing but on DVD had a second lease of life which occurred through word of mouth which to this day is still the best form of advertising.

Taken 2 is expected to double the box office of the first but what is going to harm the film more than anything will ironically be word of mouth….

Plot

Taken 2 begins with the multiple funerals of the men, retired spy Brian Mills killed in the first film Taken whilst rescuing his daughter. Here the relatives, who appear equally as dodgy, swear revenge on the one man army that wiped out their loved ones. Cut to Mills whose now in a more comical role, stalking his daughter upon the discovery… she has a boyfriend! Obviously he doesn’t watch Jeremy Kyle as most people his daughter’s age are grandmother’s by now.

Mills other preoccupation is to get his daughter to pass her driving test presumably just in case she’s ever involved in car chase in Istanbul where murdering psychopathic Albanians are coming after her….  

At this point Mills invites his daughter and ex wife to join him for a nice peaceful holiday in Istanbul. But beware the bad guys are tracking him down and it won’t be long till Mills and his ex-wife are …Taken.     

Analysis

When we get excited over a sequel the biggest draw for the audience is seeing the characters return. That’s what we want to see the same characters not the same story. This is why so many fans where concerned with the idea of Taken 2.

The circumstances within Taken were so unique that the idea of a recycled plot wouldn’t cut it with fans. I mean how can you top his daughter being randomly abducted by the Albianian criminal underworld? Well I suppose it’s by having her Mum and Dad both abducted by the Albianian criminal underworld.…?

The original connection of the bad guys here to the first set of kidnappers, makes sense and kind of gives it a little bit of heart. Think about it even human trafficking evil psychotics must have parents and also the film begins slowly which allows tension to raise just the same as the first. These I might add are the films good points.   

However Taken 2 falls ill to that deadly sequel disease…. repeated pattern syndrome which Hangover part 2 needlessly had resorted to. We go through the same motions at the same points as the first film, such as the key scene: The repeat of the pre taken phone call that made the first film.

     

The justification behind why Taken 2 could have worked more is because of the character Brian Mills. That’s who the audience loved, his daughter came across as a whiney immature school girl, his wife was a stuck up cow. Who else, apart from lovely Holly Valance, did we really want to see agian?

It wasn’t a daunting task either, like everyone made out it was going to be. All you need to be is creative…. I think some producers in Hollywood just had a cold shudder when I typed that.

How do you beat Taken? Well for one boys and girls you don’t compete, you simply take another direction. Taken was a unique story, so for a sequel all you need is your main popular character and put him another unique story.

What’s the chances of that you say? Well what aren’t the chances of that considering his is retired spy. Look at TV’s 24 series they knew the popularity of their lead Jack Bauer, and due to nature of his terrorism job it was entirely likely he could be involved in other high risk stories. So in all honesty you can’t say it can’t be done, it has been done, just be creative.

 

The retired Spy element means you could have plot lines that could take him anywhere. Think back to his conversation with his daughter in Taken where he reminisces about his past spy days he was a “preventer”, let’s explore that in a sequel, in a whole new story, that dose sound exciting.

That won’t be happening this time has they have just upped the stakes by taking twice as many people this time… err two… and one of them is the lead character?

Taken 2 is a victim of commercialism. Taken had word of mouth advertising Taken 2’s PR campaign pulls out all the stops using modern social media resources like Facebook pages, Twitter campaigns, YouTube interviews, Even pre trailer clips of Neeson spoofing himself e.g. Watch this clip or else “…I will look for you, I will find you” Christ Liam don’t whore yourself.

That’s the point all the darkness is gone and it’s a much more a jolly ditty than the first… but the facts are these films aren’t meant to be.

There is no real risk here either, once abducted I think the worse Neeson gets is a slap and spit in the face. His wife gets abducted not once but twice and still seems relatively unscathed considering she’s hanging around murdering, rapist, human trafficking Albanian monsters.   

Conclusion

Its biggest fault, its biggest regret and its biggest down fall in one word is commercialism.

The sale was more important than the product. If you have an 18 certificate, then chances are you’re telling the story, the way you want to tell it, but to drop down to a 12A was a little concerning.

These fears where put into reality with at least three fight sequences were horridly edited down to keep the rating down. Especially when but the edit always come at the end of the sequence and it’s difficult to even ascertain how the bad guys were eventually killed.

In fact the last death was so badly done, it got a laugh from the audience, when we witness Neeson’s strange facial high five killed someone… somehow?

The action scenes are great and are what saves the film. You’re rooting for Neeson all the way through and it’s still a delight to see him do what he does best.

I just can’t help but the feel the DVD is going to be the real treasure with what I hope will contain an uncut version and maybe then I can see more of the film I had expected.

Including maybe an alternate ending that won’t be half as bloody soft as the closing scene I saw, which leaves the series feeling more like a daytime family soap.  

Taken 2

Quick Summary

In two lines or less what can I say….

Biggest Pro

The action in the film is great, it what saves the film and makes it worth seeing alone apart from the bits they crudely edited.

Biggest Con

The 18 cert to 12a says it all. We lose the edge and the grit of the first film, which they then replace with a commercially censored tame vibe.

Outcome

 It’s great seeing Neeson back in the role and as Mill’s put’s it “doing what I do best” if only the Filmmakers and writers had done the same.

Rating ***

(Should have been ** really but unlike Brian Mills, I’m soft)

Ironically

Basic Instinct 2 had another popular lead character with so much possibility and flunked out to create a dull lesser reworking of the original.