Escape to the Movies: Taken 2
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He was actually fighting another person (and for a while getting his arse kicked) on the largest part of a 747's wing while its at taxi speed. Big difference to jumping on the back of a F-35 mkII that has it's VTOL engaged.disgruntledgamer said:
Both are equally implausible but one is less so than the other.
I'll bet top dollar that Movie Bob was less comfortable with the undercurrent of racism in the Taken movies then he was with a film like Machete. But don't worry Bob, having double standards just proves that your every bit as human as the rest of us.
I think you missed an important part of the review. That, at least according to Bob, the scenes where Liam Neeson shoots shit are not nearly as well done as they were in the first movie.Mimsofthedawg said:
Because that was all that made the first movie enjoyable in my eyes, that the action scenes were well done. Intense but easy to follow, with impressive action that never quite trigger my "now that's just silly" alarm.
And if Bob is correct, Taken 2 screws that up, thus taking away the only reason I would have to see this movie
I actually watch it daily (hehe), just sometimes forget to and will catch up with the rest of the week on Friday. I need that daily dose of laughs. Can't wait for the Bill O'Reilly showdown!Imp Emissary said:No problem friend. But, you know you really shouldn't need more of a reason to watch The Daily Show/The Colbert Report, other than the fact they are The Daily Show/The Colbert Report.Moeez said:
Could have guessed most of this from watching the trailer. One to miss for me.
Also, that opening was fantastic!!
Also, that opening was fantastic!!
Because people liked Captain Jack Sparrow in the pirate movies, so to make people like your cowboy movie you have to give them Chief Flies-with-Sparrows. Obviously.karloss01 said:
It's the same reason why everyone and their grandmother had lightsabers in the prequels. You thought they were cool in the first 3 movies right?
He's not over thinking it, he was just talking about how it was marketed. It would be nice to think these movies are funded by someone bursting into a boardroom and shouting, "I wanna make a movie about Liam Neeson shooting shit!" to which the producers all simultaneously replied, "Awwww hells yeeeeeeeeeah!" and giving him a high five (which is how all movie deals are signed in this universe). The reality is probably pretty much what Bob described. It was likely pitched as targeting the older baby boomer male demographic, by making them feel happy because the character they can relate to is always right and awesome etc. etc. etc.Mimsofthedawg said:
Planning to hit this one up at the cinema with the girlfriend as it's got a bunch of Turkish actors who are quite famous here (in Turkey, duh), so it's pretty novel for her to see them in a big international blockbuster.
However, Bob: "All of the action takes place in İstanbul and the film never misses a chance to throw in a supposedly ominous Islamic prayer call into the soundtrack..."
I'm going assume you've never actually BEEN to Istanbul, or even Turkey, based on this. As someone who's lived in Istanbul for nearly a year and has visited numerous times before as well as being very familiar with the part of the city the film is shot in, I can tell you it's pretty much IMPOSSIBLE for it not to be in the film often, loud AND a lot of the time ominously.
The ezan (call to prayer) happens five times a day, lasts about 2-4 minutes depending on each individual dude singing it, is sung over very powerful loud speakers and to top if all off, you're never more than 500m away from a mosque... and that's if you are in fact far away from one! Not to mention the mosques are more numerous and much larger in that part of the city too. And yes, often, it can actually sound ominous. I live at the top of a hill and am in ear-shot of at least 5 mosques and those are just the ones I know of... when all the sound mixes together it can make a very... interesting effect.
Next time I'm lying in bed awake at 5am because I woke up thinking I was having a night-terror (when really the ezan woke me up and it took me a few seconds to work out what it was), I'll be thinking of you, Bob.
EDIT: Just to add, I imagine the effect would rather be compounded by the shooting schedule... if a scene in a film is over a day, but shooting takes 2 weeks, you're going to pick it up much more in those scenes that it actually occurs day-to-day.
However, Bob: "All of the action takes place in İstanbul and the film never misses a chance to throw in a supposedly ominous Islamic prayer call into the soundtrack..."
I'm going assume you've never actually BEEN to Istanbul, or even Turkey, based on this.
As someone who's lived in Istanbul for nearly a year and has visited numerous times before as well as being very familiar with the part of the city the film is shot in, I can tell you it's pretty much IMPOSSIBLE for it not to be in the film often, loud AND a lot of the time ominously.The ezan (call to prayer) happens five times a day, lasts about 2-4 minutes depending on each individual dude singing it, is sung over very powerful loud speakers and to top if all off, you're never more than 500m away from a mosque... and that's if you are in fact far away from one! Not to mention the mosques are more numerous and much larger in that part of the city too. And yes, often, it can actually sound ominous. I live at the top of a hill and am in ear-shot of at least 5 mosques and those are just the ones I know of... when all the sound mixes together it can make a very... interesting effect.
Next time I'm lying in bed awake at 5am because I woke up thinking I was having a night-terror (when really the ezan woke me up and it took me a few seconds to work out what it was), I'll be thinking of you, Bob.
EDIT: Just to add, I imagine the effect would rather be compounded by the shooting schedule... if a scene in a film is over a day, but shooting takes 2 weeks, you're going to pick it up much more in those scenes that it actually occurs day-to-day.
My own personal wish-fulfillment would be to wish this situation on people who want to be in it so badly. It's a win-win. They get a chance to live their dream of being an action hero, and I get to be smug about being right when they find out that criminal empires are usually empires because they don't collapse in front of solitary vengeance seeking heroes, that "I was trying to find my girlfriend" isn't an effective defence against charges of city-wide arson, or that they just aren't as skilled, equipped, or brave to actually begin any of their claims in the first place.SnakeoilSage said:
Yeah, here's the thing. I don't WANT to be in that situation. I never want to have to be involved in any way shape or form with that kind of thing. I would be tearing my own hair out if someone I loved were kidnapped, forcibly addicted to heroine, and forced to fuck fat crime bosses. I don't give a shit about being an action hero.TheIronDuke said:
But if that's the only perspective you can see, then I guess that explains why you are here acting smug about your little wish-fulfillment fantasy being to watch people going crazy with fear and trying to kill the people who are hurting their loved ones, and why you don't have a relationship with anyone but your computer and a bottle of hand lotion.
There is a scene in the movie Pulp Fiction that explains almost every terrible thing happening in the news today. And it's not the scene where Ving Rhames shoots that guy's dick off. It's the part where the hit man played by John Travolta is talking about how somebody vandalized his car, and says this:SnakeoilSage said:
"Boy, I wish I could've caught him doing it. I'd have given anything to catch that asshole doing it. It'd been worth him doing it, just so I could've caught him doing it."
That last sentence is something everyone should understand about mankind. After all, the statement is completely illogical -- revenge is supposed to be about righting a wrong. But he wants to be wronged, specifically so he'll have an excuse to get revenge.
We all do. It's in our genes. And once you come to terms with that, a whole lot of ugly things about the world start making sense, the dick of your illusions blown off by the shotgun of truth.
Think about the worst fight you were ever in. Now think about the last time you did cocaine. Did you ever notice how similar the rush was in both instances (maybe you couldn't tell, if both of those things happened on the same night). It's basic biology -- we mentioned before an experiment where scientists found that angry cursing soothes physical pain. It doesn't mean that someday they'll prep you for surgery by injecting you with motherfuckers; it means that when we get angry, our body releases the painkiller norepinephrine. It makes perfect sense -- the emotion we call "anger" or "hate" is a part of our evolutionary fighting instinct, so to prepare us for the battle, it pumps us full of anesthetic to block the pain and releases the pleasure chemical dopamine to ease our fears about fighting the tiger/tribesman/drunken Red Sox fan who is threatening us. Incidentally, these are the same two chemicals that are released when you smoke crack.
Quite simply, hate gets you high.
The science behind it is fairly new, but it explains so much, from wars to the confrontational dick at the office, from racism to the crazy girlfriend/boyfriend who is constantly trying to pick fights or create "drama." You are a biological machine built to hate, and you got that way because your ancestors killed off everyone who wasn't. Rage made you strong, and that strength let you win. This is why so much of society is built around controlling and suppressing it.
Source: http://www.cracked.com/blog/5-reasons-humanity-desperately-wants-monsters-to-be-real/
I'm not accusing you of anything - but there genuinely are people who fantasize about terrible things happening to them so that they can indulge in some justified hate-filled violence. And there are media specifically designed to cater to them.
Once again, I'm not saying you fantasize about something terrible happening to your significant other so that you can have revenge fantasy just because you like this movie - that would be terribly presumptuous of me. But there are people like that, and they get high on this stuff.
You know, I still think Taken (1) specifically addresses the same brand of escapism many Anime shows and Novels like Harry Potter build on - i.e. "there's more to that ordinary guy than meets the eye", only in a somewhat more sensible fashion.
From what it looks like, Taken 2 seems to do away with that, leaving behind "just" an action movie.
Too bad. I liked that little bit of guilty escapism...
From what it looks like, Taken 2 seems to do away with that, leaving behind "just" an action movie.
Too bad. I liked that little bit of guilty escapism...
You said it yourself this movie was made by French film makers. The comments on Islam are actually not a reflection of America but a reflection of France. France hates Muslims and have put forth multiple laws to discriminate against them.
I do tend towards giving Movie Bob a break here. His views on things often end up very American in that they omit the rest of the world entirely, but that's quite understandable given the culture he is commenting on is based on the same thing.Throwitawaynow said:
But I would agree that just because a movie uses Islamic themes and images, it is not automatically islamophobic. The last time I saw Jewish symbols in a movie, I also did not go "the movie makers must be nazis!"
Yeah, the stock characters for each racial/religious cliché might be overused, but don't blame the soundtrack for trying to bring across a genuine Istanbul atmosphere!