Tag: Luc Besson

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Action & Thriller Movie Reviews

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.

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Diary

How Did You Celebrate New Year’s Eve?

This year, I am not going to over complicate my New Year’s resolution.  It would be: read more, write more, play more music, and do more sport.  Other time sinking activities will have to be scaled back accordingly.

We stayed at home on New Year’s Eve, thanks to a laborious walk at Ubin Island the day before.  I got out of the bed in the early morning with my feet feeling sore.  I went back to bed thinking if we were to cycle instead of to walk, my feet would not be that sore.  But then I recalled what happen to those who do not cycle often.  I would rather have a pair of sore feet than a sore butt.

New Year’s Eve fell on a Saturday so we did our housecleaning ritual.  After a home cooked lunch, Cynthia and I spent a few hours romancing with the dragons.  Some readers have the misconception that MMO (massively multi-player online) is similar to the traditional role playing games, whereby you defeat your foes once and once only.  Well, in the world of MMO, we do that again, again, and again.  Very much like a game of basketball.  The court and the rules stay the same.  But the players and the outcomes may not.

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After our movie outing the day before, TK, Cynthia, and I have decided to celebrate New Year’s Eve at my home watching some videos.  TK brought pizza and food while Cynthia bought potato chip and drink.  As for the lucky me, I was tasked to operate the Blu-Ray player.  I suggested to watch the Luc Besson movie “Léon” staring young Natalie Portman.  Cynthia counter suggested Quentin Tarantino’s gruesome “Reservoir Dogs” thinking that it was a comedy.  TK also preferred the blood and gore, for our New Year’s Eve.  In this party of three, somehow I am often outnumbered.

Watching “Reservoir Dogs” requires intense concentration, which we did not have once we started to eat our pizza and talked.  Cynthia and my mother were happily chatting.  TK was also happily chatting and every now and then, playing with his new phone often.  When the title “Mr. White” appeared, they had no clue where the story was heading, except blood and more blood.  I had to explain this is Mr. White, that is Mr. Orange, and he is Mr. Pink, and etc.  Fortunately, the ending was pretty obvious and that did not require much thinking to go ah-ha!  I can understand why “Reservoir Dogs” has become a cult hit.  I doubt TK and Cynthia really love it.

After “Reservoir Dogs”, the night was still young.  So we moved onto our next video.

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If you have not watched “Léon” before and are to watch today, you would probably say, “Hmm.  Natalie Portman acted pretty good when she was 12.”  But imagine you have not heard of this movie, you would probably be amazed and thrown out of your chair at how talented this young actress is.  When I first saw Natalie Portman on screen, I said to myself, “She is going to make it big.”  She does not disappoint me.  Her 2011 “Black Swan” has won the Oscar.  And I had my “I knew it!” moment.  It was sweet.

“Léon” was more violent than I remember.  Watching “Léon” after “Reservoir Dogs”, we had our evening filled with blood and violence.  They are both classic movies, no doubt.  That pretty much sums up what 2011 is, in a way.

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Year 2011 is pretty blah for me.  I hope 2012 is more exciting, in a positive way.  This is how we spent our New Year’s Eve.  What about you?  Did you do something outrageously fun?

Categories
Action & Thriller Movie Reviews

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.