'TAKEN 2'

'TAKEN 2' (R) (1 1/2 STARS)

Written by Luc Besson and Robert Mark Kamen
Directed by Oliver Megaton
Actors: Liam Neeson, Maggie Grace, Famke Janssen, D.B. Sweeey, Jonathan Gries, Rade Sherbedgia.

"Taken" was a surprise hit and a movie that delightfully gave us a new Liam Neeson, a Liam of the kick ass variety. It was a very well directed and suspenseful movie that delivered what it promised. I don't know what happened to "Taken 2" but I laughed a lot and it is not a comedy. I also was bored because maybe I have seen this story before, it is basically the same plot as the first one with slight changes. Maybe it is because this macho Liam Neeson thing is becoming a parody of itself. It is that way with "Taken 2" for I found the movie unintentionally hilarious and very stupid.

It feels like the filmmakers are grabbing at thin air for there is nothing new to see here. Even the action scenes seem like exact copies of scenes in the original except here it gets tiring without a substantial story. Liam Neeson again goes into attack mode when the father of the men he killed in the original kidnap Neeson and his wife played by Famke Janssen (who gets prettier as she ages). Bryan's daughter will also be chased and Bryan will try to help her escape through the cell phone. All the action takes place in Instanbul and it could take place in Paris for all I cared.

The movie takes a half hour to get going and the first half hour will give us golden nuggets of humor, unintentional humor that is. It starts with the father visiting his daughter as she is making out with her boyfriend. The overprotective father just walks in and doesn't acknowledge the boyfriend. The way it is presented is so corny and cliche and it comes off here as fake. Then Bryan takes his daughter for a driving lesson and asks her if she loves this guy and if she has ever been in love before. I laughed out loud because the dialogue is so fake and isn't this an action movie?! Then the movie closes with the daughter passing her driving test after three tries and then a dinner with the boyfriend, daughter and wife and man I laughed and threw up in my mouth after seeing how this all goes down.

There are more laugh out loud scenes including a hilarious scene as Bryan's daughter dispatches three grenades, one hitting a parked car in a parking lot so Bryan can find her location. There are also rusty, dull and uninspired action scenes and a final fight that is awkward and clumsy and I am not the only one who laughed out loud during the fight scene. Then Bryan, after killing everybody, goes to find the vengeance minded bad guy and asks him if he has more sons. The bad guy tells him yes and then Bryan gives him two options. Bryan could kill him and then the other sons could go after him for revenge and Bryan will kill then easily. Or he can walk away and enjoy the company of his surviving sons for the rest of his life. This is after Bryan has already killed the other sons. That is hilarious, no this is not a comedy but it is easily one of the worst movies of the year.

P.S. For better movies then "Taken 2" check out the original again or try the cult classic masterpiece "Mad Max".