TAKEN 2 (2012)

Taking place soon after the events of the first film, TAKEN 2 opens with a funeral in a remote Albanian village.  The funeral is for some of the gangsters that Liam Neeson killed while rescuing his daughter from the sex traffickers in the first film.  The relatives, lead by the father of one of the dead men, swears revenge on Liam.   Liam inadvertently makes it easy for them (and the writers) by taking a security job in Istanbul, Turkey and allowing his daughter and ex-wife to visit.  So now, all the bad guys have to do is drive over there and kidnap them.

The believability of TAKEN 2 is pretty out there, but oh well, at least we get to see Liam Neeson kicking ass and in the end: isn't that all that really matters?  Tons of people getting punching, zero nudity, lots of shooting with hardly any blood or wounds, more of that extreme editing and close-ups during the fighting scenes (I'm really getting tired of that shit), predictable outcome, increased screentime for Maggie Grace who wears shorts a lot, hand grenade tossing, one hell of a car chase, nice photography. 

TAKEN 2 isn't as satisfying as the original film and I think that has to do with the story being pretty ehhh and the location of Istanbul simply isn't as exciting as Paris.  Still, it's worth a watch for action fans.  Not a terrible sequel, but I was hoping for much more.  I thought it would be interesting if Liam's daughter was now a popular singer and she got kidnapped while on tour.

If you need me, I'll be in my room watching COMMANDO.

Part 1 - Taken (2008)
Part 3 - Taken 3 (2014)