6. Taken 2
Before I start on Taken 2, I should state how I still firmly hold Taken as a brilliant action film. What it lacks in plot, tension and character development it more than makes up for with thrilling action sequences and a standout performance from Liam Neeson that reinvigorated his career. Taken 2, however, failed to reach the heights of it's predecessor in any way, although it introduced a central villain, which is arguably something the original film sorely needed, even he came across as lacklustre and dull by the time it came around to the final standoff between him and Neeson's Bryan Mills. To be fair, the biggest problem I had with Taken 2 doesn't stem from Neeson, he may have just turned 60 but he still looks like he could easily take another round with the Albanian family he has already brought so much destruction to. The biggest problem then, came from the occasionally laughable dialogue and the lack of ambition in both the car chases and fistfights that Neeson was engaged in. There were times during this film where I literally laughed out loud or felt embarrassed to be watching, one example of the former being when Mills, on the phone to his daughter, asks her, "Can you get out of the closet safely?" which is the single stupidest line I've ever witnessed. Quite how clumsy he believed his daughter to be I'm not sure, because it was only moments later he had her throwing grenades around a busy City centre with little repercussion. In fact, the scene involving Mills telling his daughter how to decipher his location from counting how far the grenade's exploded from his location was probably the strongest of the film and had a great concept at it's core, even if I have seen a similar idea in an episode of the children's TV show Peppa Pig. The latter, embarrassing moment came from the car chase through the Turkish Bazaar, a pursuit that is bereft of any sense of speed and climaxes with their car barely making it across a train track, narrowly avoiding being hit by the approaching train, an event which is so cliche it was included in the PlayStation 2 game, Stuntman. If I'm being unnecessarily harsh on Taken 2 it's only because of what it could have been and what I expected from it. Liam Neeson is one of the best actors in the world at this point in time and he can sill carry out the hefty action sequences, so it would be great to see him have another stab at playing Bryan Mills in order to effectively redeem the series, at least in my eyes. To follow such a strong film with a disappointment is upsetting enough as it is, it would be even worse if it were just left without a chance to create another great film to end the series.