Rami Ungar The Writer

THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS. PLEASE BE AWARE YOU MAY NOT WANT TO SEE THE MOVIE AFTER READING THIS POST.

Before I start, I just want to say one thing: I loved Taken. I loved Liam Neeson in that movie (he’s great in every movie I’ve seen him in, but he’s especially amazing here), I thought the story was amazing, the action was fresh and awesome, and the movie helped inspire my serial killer Snake.

So I feel a little sad that I have to write this review, and a little disappointed that the makers of Taken 2 couldn’t top Taken. In fact, they did several things that just sapped the excitement from the film and made it boring. For instance, the opening of the movie would’ve looked more at home in a sci-fi film about a conspiracy than the sequel of a thriller involving lots of shooting and killing. And then when they show the funeral, they make it explicitly clear that it’s an Islamic funeral while the antagonist vows revenge for his fallen friends. Seriously, I get that Albania’s mostly Muslim, but could you wait until after the funeral to discuss your evil plans? Or did you want the racist freaks out there to nod and say, “That’s just what Muslims do at funerals”?

Second, the action just seemed a little too…familiar. Even if Liam Neeson gets captured and beaten a little, it’s all the same, shoot people up in a foreign place, take them all by surprise, end up with very few wounds by the end of the film. And what was with the end of that bad guy? Honestly, you just kill him after offering to let him go. Makes no sense to me; I would’ve done it differently.

Unfortunately, this movie’s doing well at the box office, so perhaps some people disagree with me. However, I’m calling it as I see it, and I see this film as a 1.4 out of 5. Yes, that low! Hopefully when I see Alex Cross next week, they’ll be able to do a better job of doing a thriller than the makers of Taken 2, even if they’re not including the character of John Sampson in the former.