Movie Review: Taken 2

In 2009, I was captivated by the incredibly entertaining and great action film Taken. It overhauled Liam Nesson's career and made him a reliable and effective action-movie badass. Fast forward to 2012 where Taken 2 has been released. I was expecting more of the same with another great, entertaining action movie where Nesson kills a bunch of bad guys in various ways. Unforunately, that's not what I got. Taken 2 is the epitome of a letdown and marks the first time Liam Nesson has disappointed me as action hero.

Taken 2 is one of the dumbest and just plain-bad action movies I've ever seen. This isn't a rehash because a rehash would've at least would've entertaining and a serviceable continuation of the series even if it feels very familiar (The Hangover Part II did just that last year). What Taken 2 does is take everything that made the original so good and just does away with it. First off, the action scenes are absolutely awful. They are so poorly shot and edited you can't even tell what is going on. I like quick-cut editing in action sequences, but this was just ridiculous. When you can hear the action, but not see it (outside of the bullet holes, broken glass, etc in the aftermath) you know you have a serious problem. If it wasn't enough of a failure as an action movie, it's so corny and ridiculous that it's almost hard to grasp. There are so many facepalm worthy moments and lines that I lost track (Let's just say that there might be a scene where his daughter throws grenades from roof to roof about 200 yards away and that's not even the most absurd thing that happens). The worst part about that is the film remains dead serious the whole time without even a hint of an intentionally over-the-top vibe. The first film also benefited from having a solid and effective plot. This one has a good-sounding premise on paper, but it does nothing with it. Hell it doesn't even really stick to it's plot throughout the movie and it just kind of comes through in bursts. Screenwriter Luc Besson and his buddy director Olivier Megaton apparently left their particular set of skills at home on this one. They really should've just left this series alone after producing such a horrible sequel that fails to do absolutely nothing the original did so well. This movie was just marginally better than this year's even more ridiculous Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance (The only reason I'm making that comparison is because they are both awful sequels that also happen to be two of the worst films of the year in my opinion). There is no fun to be had with Taken 2 and it's hands down the single most disappointing film of 2012 by far.

1.5/5 Stars