Liam Neeson – WilfridWong.com

Taken 2: Entertaining Albeit Less Intense Than Previous Installment

A group of us at Google+ – though not everyone has met everyone in real life – have at least two things in common. We love the movie Taken and we live in Singapore. So, when one of us suggested a Taken 2 movie outing, we have decided to make it yet another Google+ real life hangout. It was fun. We have a great time and followed through with an Indonesian dinner buffet.

I have almost forgotten how I felt about Taken until I read my post written three years ago. Our movie buddy TK with his superhuman memory at the end of the show commented that Taken 2 has a slightly slower pace. Now that I have read what was written, I agree. But that doesn’t make Take 2 any less entertaining.

Initially, I was skeptical on this sequel. In Taken, the daughter was taken. Liam Neeson’s character has killed everyone in the story and saved her daughter. In Taken 2, the parents are taken. Relatives of the deceased are now seeking revenge. What can an untrained daughter do?

Turns out that the daughter does have a role to play in saving her parents. Clever script the film has. Is that realistic? I would say for someone who was been taken before, the survival instinct must have kicked in. The backdrop of this installment is Istanbul. To those who have yet to see the country, this backdrop looks exotic.

The challenge Taken 2 has is that there is little surprise when you have already watched the previous installment. The only cliffhanger to me is that knowing Luc Besson, he may let the hero dies (like in Léon: The Professional). The intensity then comes not from the would be surprises but the clever execution of the rescue mission. To me, Taken 2 is a worthy follow up to the original movie. It looks as though there will be Taken 3. Now, it would be great if this Google+ real time hangout group continues to keep in touch and have a Taken reunion for the next installment.

Taken – I Squeezed Cynthia’s Hand So Hard That It’s No Joke!

taken

I am a big fan of Liam Neeson – less so for that Star War film but more so for say “Schindler’s List” and “Michael Collins”. So naturally, I like “Taken”. Did you know that it is scripted by Luc Besson? “The Fifth Element” is my all time favorite. And surprise-surprise, “Taken” is directed by Pierre Morel who has also partnered with Luc Besson in “District 13”. All of us in the Movie Review Squad have watched “District 13” back in 2006.

While all of us love “Taken”, TK thinks that the open scenes are a bit too slow. For me, I appreciate the character development, especially for this type of film. To the least, you get to know where those special ‘capabilities’ of Neeson’s character – Bryan Mills – come from, his relationship with his daughter, and the situation he is now at. Rather than a 007 or Bourne kind of intensity from beginning to end, there is a build up right to the point when Bryan’s daughter, Kim, was kidnapped in Paris, sold to a prostitution ring, and from then onwards, all hell break loose.

Maybe such circumstance has a higher urgency than ransom or even murder. I didn’t expect the violence, I didn’t expect the excitement. I was squeezing Cynthia’s hand throughout the show. At the end of it, I felt some soreness on my jaws. Gosh. I must have been grinding my teeth hard.

TK said that “Taken” reminded him of the TV series 24. Quite true. The girl has a similar stage name some more. Cynthia said that the show reminded her of “Your Name Is Justine” (a very painful movie to watch based on human trafficking) from the content point of view. For me, “Taken” is like a series of little quests on the journey of a very desperate father trying to find his daughter in a foreign country, at times beyond comprehension how things could happen that way. Kind of remind me of that one online role playing game’s non-stop questing (don’t think, just do). 90 minutes seemed to have passed way too quickly. I want more.