Release Date: October 5, 2012

MPAA Rating: PG-13

Director: Olivier Megaton

Stars: Liam Neeson, Maggie Grace, Famke Janssen, Rade Serbedzija

Our Rating: C

“I don’t know who you are. I don’t know what you want. If you are looking for ransom, I can tell you I don’t have money. But what I do have are a very particular set of skills; skills I have acquired over a very long career. Skills that make me a nightmare for people like you. If you let my daughter go now, that’ll be the end of it. I will not look for you, I will not pursue you. But if you don’t, I will look for you, I will find you, and I will kill you.” People all over the country first heard that threatening monologue in 2008, with director Luc Besson (Leon: The Professional, The Secret) at the head of the project. Now, director Olivier Megaton (Hitman, Colombiana) has taken the helm and steered the Taken franchise slightly off-course.

In this direct sequel to Taken (2008), Liam Neeson returns as retired CIA operative Bryan Mills who, in the first film, rescued his daughter, Kim (Maggie Grace), from a group of Albanian human traffickers led by Marko Hoxha (Arben Bajraktaraj). This time around, Bryan is Joined in Istanbul, Turkey by Kim and Lenore (Famke Janssen), Kim’s mom and Bryan’s ex-wife. Unfortunately, their little “family vacation” is ruined when Murad Hoxha (Rade Serbedzija), the grieving father of the late Marko Hoxha, decides that vengeance is to be had against one Bryan Mills. Murad proceeds to capture Lenore, which prompts Bryan to chase them all over Istanbul, leaving a trail of sweet chaos and destruction in his wake.

This film, though dynamic in shot types and slightly MacGyver-esque in Mills’s use of his environment and senses to escape and track down Murad, was unfulfilling in the way that there just wasn’t as much action as in the first one. Yes, Liam Neeson and his god-like voice* continued to kick lots of @$$, but the plot was just not as kinetic or emotionally moving as that of the first movie. MAJOR props to Olivier Megaton, though, because until I saw the end credits of the film, I (and several other people I know) was convinced that Murad Hoxha was played by Jonathan Goldsmith, AKA “The Most Interesting Man in the World”.

All in all, the movie wasn’t all bad in terms of action and suspense. Unfortunately, the characters were slightly one-dimensional and the plot wasn’t as fulfilling as that of its predecessor. Liam Neeson was still a badass, Maggie Grace was still a victim, and this time around Famke Janssen had blood leaking out of her head, but I still wasn’t as satisfied as I’d hoped to be. See you next time!

*My best friend once told me that if he had Liam Neeson’s voice, he’d talk to himself for hours.