Taken 2 *** (2012, Liam Neeson, Maggie Grace, Famke Janssen) – Classic Movie Review 13,506

The busy and acceptable 2012 French action-thriller film sequel Taken 2 brings back Liam Neeson, Maggie Grace and Famke Janssen from the hit original.

Director Olivier Megaton’s 2012 French action-thriller film sequel Taken 2 is a busy and acceptable but contrived and disappointing follow-up to the stupendous Taken. Liam Neeson, Maggie Grace, and Famke Janssen return from the original and it also stars Rade Šerbedžija, Leland Orser, Jon Gries, D B Sweeney, and Luke Grimes.

Liam Neeson returns as retired CIA officer Bryan Mills, who ends up with his family in Istanbul, where he is kidnapped, along with his ex-wife (Famke Janssen), by the father of one of the men he killed while saving his daughter (Maggie Grace) two years earlier.

Put plainly, with its mechanical, run-of-the-mill script and flashily anonymous handling, Taken 2 is ordinary and mediocre whereas Taken was outstanding and special. However, it is very slickly made, gratifyingly short (at 91 minutes) and sharp, and the classy Liam Neeson graces it with his intense and determined presence.

It grossed more than $376 million at the box office, against a budget of $45 million, and is the highest grossing instalment of what became a trilogy

Taken 3 was released on 9 January 2015.

Luc Besson is the producer and co-writer with American screenwriter Robert Mark Kamen.

Nathaniel Méchaly composes the score.

The Istanbul scenes were shot in November 2011 and filming continued in early 2012; with some shooting at Luc Besson’s new film studios of the Cité du Cinéma in Saint-Denis, France.

© Derek Winnert 2025 – Classic Movie Review 13,506

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