Escape to the Movies: Taken 2
- Thread starter MovieBob
- Start date
Oh Moviebob, your opening has assured that there will be a Taken 3 just to force you to review it...
While I'm sure the original Taken was largely intended for bitter divorced dads, it always seemed like it was also aiming at least a little for the teenage girl demographic. After all, how cool would it be for your dad to go to those kinds of lengths to protect you? The whole pop star subplot seemed more for their wish fulfillment than their dads.
But the really question here, I think, is does it have another one of those speeches that the internet can make fun of/make a meme out of?
Is it just me, or did the Lone Ranger picture at the end seem like it would fit really well into the Gangnam-Style video? Weird.
Still somewhat disappointed to hear this wasn't good. The first was a lot of fun even if the air of xenophobia kind of lingered over it somewhat. At least it did for me. Might give it a look if I've got some money to burn, which I never do.
Still somewhat disappointed to hear this wasn't good. The first was a lot of fun even if the air of xenophobia kind of lingered over it somewhat. At least it did for me. Might give it a look if I've got some money to burn, which I never do.
Yeah, that's about what I thought when I heard this movie was coming out.
What I loved was when Liam Neeson was on Jon Stewart's show, Jon asks; "Taken 3?", and Liam just does the cutting his own neck with his hand move.
I hope he was right.
What I loved was when Liam Neeson was on Jon Stewart's show, Jon asks; "Taken 3?", and Liam just does the cutting his own neck with his hand move.
I hope he was right.
I thought MovieBob was going to do Looper, oh well, still a good review;
however, I practically called it in my social circle that Taken 2 was going to be mediocre,
even the poster gave it away.
however, I practically called it in my social circle that Taken 2 was going to be mediocre,
even the poster gave it away.
Sometimes it's not a bad thing to place a tonal emphasis on how alien and unfamiliar a setting is for a protagonist in order to create a kind of cultural challenge as the hero tries to get around this place he knows nothing about... unless you're just going "Muslims amirite?" Then, you're kind of a douche.
Never saw the first one. Didn't care that there's a sequel. Thank you, Bob, for not trying to convince me to change course at this point.
Oh, and: Johnny Depp as Tonto looks kinda awesome, though not necessarily in the same way the filmmakers intend.
Oh, and: Johnny Depp as Tonto looks kinda awesome, though not necessarily in the same way the filmmakers intend.
I had my doubts after I saw the trailer and saw that they were actually attempting to humanize, or at least rationalize the bad guy's motivations which I felt was kind of a big misstep. Part of what made the first film so great was the bad guys were all so cartoonishly evil and participating in an activity that any sane moral person can see is unambiguously wrong, so it was incredibly cathartic to watch Liam Neeson electrocute them with knitting needles. Now that their main motivation is revenge because they lost family, you're reminded that these were actually flesh and blood people, with mothers, fathers, aunts, uncles, and maybe even children of their own, and you start to feel slightly guilty for getting pleasure out of watching their demise.
I think Moviebob probably liked the first one even more than I did I think. Yes he did some awful things in the first flick to apparently try and set up some moral ambiguity, but nothing comes of it in that movie, there are no consequences for him or his family because he flat out tortures and murders people. In fact the movie goes out of its way to justify Liam's actions by
Now you can argue that was all to set up this second movie, but I have serious doubts they had anything planned sequel wise when the first was finished, and from the sounds of it they still don't address Liam's actions. Torture and murder are still good and justified just so long as the other guys are really, REALLY bad.
having the one cop trying to stop his rampage of course turn out to be corrupt.
Now you can argue that was all to set up this second movie, but I have serious doubts they had anything planned sequel wise when the first was finished, and from the sounds of it they still don't address Liam's actions. Torture and murder are still good and justified just so long as the other guys are really, REALLY bad.
Now Bob, I think you missed a whopping big piece of what Taken represents. I'm not some jaded middle-aged guy, but I have a girlfriend that I care about very, very dearly, and when I was watching Liam rip the pistol out of a man's hand and pistol whip him in the temple with it (repeatedly), a part of me understood entirely the anger behind every swing. If my girlfriend had been kidnapped for very real threat of human trafficking, I would likely BURN PARIS TO THE GROUND to find her and ensure she didn't wind up in some disgusting crime lord's heroin-addicted harem.
Taken 2 has a cheesy premise, it's trying to build some kind of mythos around it as if Liam were a grim and gritty American James Bond and that brand of desperate, rage-fueled and downright illegal aggression he implements were something he did every day and not just because his daughter and/or wife were being kidnapped. That is where the sequel starts to come apart, making the kidnapping of his ex-wife and daughter little more than a means to keep the now-franchised name in the title, while treating Liam's ferocity as just another tool he uses in his bad-ass arsenal. You could have easily cut out the kidnapping and the overall plot of the film wouldn't have been changed much.
Taken 2 has a cheesy premise, it's trying to build some kind of mythos around it as if Liam were a grim and gritty American James Bond and that brand of desperate, rage-fueled and downright illegal aggression he implements were something he did every day and not just because his daughter and/or wife were being kidnapped. That is where the sequel starts to come apart, making the kidnapping of his ex-wife and daughter little more than a means to keep the now-franchised name in the title, while treating Liam's ferocity as just another tool he uses in his bad-ass arsenal. You could have easily cut out the kidnapping and the overall plot of the film wouldn't have been changed much.
Oh, it's nice to see Bob's started trolling Amazing Spider-Man 2 already...
Why waste any time when there's reactionary Twilight comparisons to be made, huh?
Why waste any time when there's reactionary Twilight comparisons to be made, huh?
Taken 2 has a "good premise?" For the first time I really gotta disagree with you, Bob. This movie never had a good premise in the first place. Sure, it might be worth noting that the villains from movie 1 might want to pursue Liam Neeson's character simply because he gave them such a thorough ass-whooping, but... Wouldn't Neeson be prepared for it this time around? And, after the incident from the first movie, wouldn't he be a LITTLE apprehensive letting his daughter go overseas? And, how many more guys did the villains from movie 1 have left? I thought Neeson took them all out. From what it seems, nothing about this movie holds water. Maybe it's just me.
Bob: OF COURSE they're going to make another Spider-Man.
a). people keep going to them
b). when they didn't slow down after losing Raimi, Maguire et al, it becomes clear that they'll just make as many of them as they damn well please, a la Freddie/Jason movies.
c). after watching Marvel snap back The Hulk and start making all the Marvel movies, and making them more awesome than everyone else (possible exception: first and last X-Menses), Sony is going to keep a tight fist around this cash cow for as long as humanly possible, cause Marvel will take Spider Man back seven seconds after their option expires on their film deal.
To this end, they would keep making Spider-Mans even if it meant casting Sandra Bernhard as Petra Parker.
a). people keep going to them
b). when they didn't slow down after losing Raimi, Maguire et al, it becomes clear that they'll just make as many of them as they damn well please, a la Freddie/Jason movies.
c). after watching Marvel snap back The Hulk and start making all the Marvel movies, and making them more awesome than everyone else (possible exception: first and last X-Menses), Sony is going to keep a tight fist around this cash cow for as long as humanly possible, cause Marvel will take Spider Man back seven seconds after their option expires on their film deal.
To this end, they would keep making Spider-Mans even if it meant casting Sandra Bernhard as Petra Parker.