Review of Taken 2 (2012) by Michael J — 21 May 2013

I liked it, but not as much as the original. The original Taken keeps you feeling off-balance the whole time; you don't ever feel like you really know how it's going to pan out. In this one, Bryan Mills has an ally in his daughter. It's no longer him alone against the bad guys... it's him with her as backup. The fact that the daughter is safe for almost the entire movie removes some of the desperation from the story. There's not a lot of character development here, either, although it's obvious the filmmakers want us to come away with the idea that Mills has grown as a person because of what's happened. But there's plenty of action... if that's your thing, then you're all good.

I will say that the ending makes it feel like both movies were conceived as a single unit, like this movie is the REAL ending of the first one. It doesn't seem like an afterthought, as many sequels do. I would have liked it if the finale was a little more final - I won't give away what I'm talking about, but Bryan's job winds up being oddly unfinished - but I think it's a fairly satisfying finish to the story told across both movies. I'm not sure I would be interested in a third one.