3. The Storytelling is a Mess
From the daughter running across rooftops and detonating grenades, to Mom being slit at the throat and hung upside down to bleed out (this was actually a very cool move) but actually managing to survive, almost nothing about the story is believable. One of the best things about the first film was the fact that not only could we relate to Neesons feelings of hate for having his daughter stolen for the sex trade, but the way he went about retrieving her was believable and legitimate. He was former CIA, and we believed he could get it done. It was a simple premise, and full of that sense of urgency that this sequel sorely lacked. We are never once led to believe that Mom will not be recovered. We are never once led to believe that her recovery was going to take any real effort, and that if she was not recovered immediately that she would actually be killed. There was nothing about her abduction and recovery that felt necessary, or even pressing. I understand that our villains were trying to abduct the entire family and they failed to do so, but even at that we were never led to believe that the family would not find their way out of this situation.