Taken 2

Starring Liam Neeson, Maggie Grace and others

Star rating: **

As i hadn't seen the first instalment of Taken, i was coming at this film with totally fresh eyes. Liam Neeson has been complimented for his role in the films and Taken has become a cult classic. His legendary voicemail threat in the first film helped portray Neeson as a man not to be meddled with and this is a hard premise to keep up for a second film. When i saw the trailer for this film, i still wanted to see it. It promised action and adventure in Istanbul and i really was not disappointed.

In this sequel, Bryan Mills (Neeson) is in Istanbul with his ex-wife Lenore (Famke Janssen) fresh from her separation from her second husband and daughter Kim (Maggie Grace). Bryan, having killed many to save his daughter in the first film, forgot that they would have family and the Turkish captors return to seek revenge. This time Bryan and his ex-wife are taken and chained up in a manky basement. This time, Bryan is forced to call upon Kim to come and save them using whispered instructions on a secret mobile phone. Armed with grenades and a gun, Kim is set to rescue her parents.

Neeson is as fantastic as he always is and is brilliantly flawless in his performance as the retired CIA operative. It is a shame that the rest of his cast let him down. Grace is as whiny as ever as Kim and it is a shame that her character is not shown as growing in any way. The setting of Istanbul is one that has been done so often in action films that it is hard to think it is anything new.

Watch this if you want to watch an action film to past the time away but don't expect any huge revelations. Neeson is the star of these films so definitely watch it for him!