Rated PG-13 for violence, language and some adult situations

By Patrick Sessoms
BEACON COLUMNIST

posted Oct 13, 2012 - 5:49:30am

These days I’m having a hard time deciding if I like Luc Besson or not as a writer anymore. True, he gave us The Fifth Element and The Professional, but he also gave us the terrible Colombiana. Now he’s decided to follow up his wildly successful flick Taken with an underwhelming effort.

If you've seen the first installment, I know what you’re thinking: “How could there possibly be a sequel to Taken? Didn’t Liam Neeson kill everyone?” Well, yeah, he did. But there are more, and that’s pretty much all you need to know.

Taken 2 is a train wreck of a film, but then again, that seems to be director Oliver Megaton’s trademark. He can’t take all the blame: After all, Besson slapped together one of the most mind-bogglingly awful scripts of the year. The actors fumble around with awkward dialogue that refuses to give their characters any real depth or expansion, making it particularly confusing for moviegoers who haven’t seen the first installment. (And it’s a shame for those who did see it and were looking forward to a good sequel).

This time around, all audiences get is an over-protective man (Neeson), a weepy-eyed mother (Famke Janssen), a rebellious daughter (Maggie Grace) and a ridiculous bad guy (Rade Serbedzija).

In typical Megaton fashion, Taken 2 rushes at a breakneck pace from disappointing action scene to disappointing action scene. The film is so rushed, yet it feels like absolutely nothing happens. It’s just a paint-by-numbers action film that fails to create any real sense of urgency for the characters despite frantically jumping from scene to scene.

The opening scene with Neeson and Janssen is almost painful in how clumsily the two stumble around the exposition. It’s as if they haven’t spoken in years and suddenly have to catch up, so we hear about Janssen’s difficult divorce from her new husband and the fact that daughter Grace now has a boyfriend. Well, it’s a good thing they fit all that into a two-minute scene; we wouldn’t want to waste time on story structure or character development.

It’s not like there was much to expect from this movie beyond some easy action, but even so it’s disappointing. Everything about it is held together with scotch tape and a prayer. It’s hard even to point out everything that goes wrong in it. The music is awful. There’s no tension. Worst of all, it’s painfully boring. It’s hard to believe anyone in post-production even watched it before it hit theaters.

While there have been some very good movies in 2012, there have also been some very low, low points. Taken 2 is one of the worst films of the year. If you liked Taken, don’t see Taken 2. It will ruin Bryan Mills for you. If you haven’t seen Taken, don’t see Taken 2. It will make you very sad in your heart. Basically, just don’t bother seeing Taken 2. It’s not an adrenaline-fueled thrill ride; it’s a piece of cinematic garbage.

Stars & Popcorn grade: 1 star, 1 popcorn

— Born and raised in the sunshine state, Patrick grew up loving movies. He’s currently attending the University of Central Florida and is a Cinema Studies major. Along with being the president of Stars and Popcorn, he’s a player in the independent comics scene.

Sponsored by Liebe Entertainment Group, Marketplace 8. Click here to see showtimes for Taken 2

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