Before I write about this review of Taken 2, let me take this
opportunity to express gratitude to Nuffnang Philippines and Kojie.san Men. This
was the second part of their treat to chosen bloggers after the Kojie.san Men Product Launch. The free exclusive movie screening for selected bloggers at
Shangri-la Cineplex in Mandaluyong was also due to their generosity. Freebies
were also given out. The deo spray and soap variants smell great!
Shangri-la Cineplex
This isn’t my first time at this
mall as I’ve been here before. But it is my first time at the Cineplex. The first
thing I’ve noticed is that the tickets are really expensive. It’s twice as much
as a ticket cost in a local SM mall in my province. Inside, the area is quite
smaller than usual cinemas. It didn’t help that there were only a few more
seats available when we arrived for the pre-registration at around 8:15
although registration started at 8 PM only. Wow! Imagine how much difference 15
minutes can make. So we had no choice but to get the seats on the second row
infront. I felt dizzy because the screen was so close.
Kojie.san Men
Before the special exclusive screening
started, Kojie.san opened up the night by giving away prizes to 10 men who were able to provide pick up lines to answer the question, “lalaki ka ba?”
Incidentally, Chuckie Dreyfus was among the audience and also participated in
the same game. I was wondering if he accompanied a blogger or he blogged about
Kojie.san himself. John Spainhour, who is the image model for Kojie.san men
also graced the opening of the show.
Taken 2
Going back to Taken 2, the
storyline is similar to the first sequel. After all, it can’t be called “Taken
2” if there is no one to be taken on the movie. During the first movie, it was
Bryan Mills' daughter who was kidnapped by an Albanian mafia who kidnaps young
foreign girls in Paris and force them into a prostitution den. Mills was able
to find her daughter and rescue her. This immortalized the lines, “I don't know who you are. I don't know what you want. If
you're looking for ransom, I can tell you I don't have money. But what I do have are a very particular set of
skills. Skills I have acquired over a very long career. Skills that make me a
nightmare for people like you. If you let my daughter go now, that will be the
end of it. I will not look for you. I will not pursue you. But if you don't, I
will look for you, I will find you, and I will kill you.”
Cast and Characters (Wikipedia)
Liam Neeson as Bryan Mills
Maggie Grace as Kim
Famke Janssen as Lenore
Rade Šerbedžija as Murad Hoxha
Luke Grimes as Jamie
Leland Orser as Sam
Jon Gries as Casey
D.B. Sweeney as Bernie
Aclan Bates as Sheik's aide
Kevork Malikyan as Durmaz
Summary
In Taken 2, Mills’ ex-wife Lenore
is facing separation legal battles with her rich husband. Kim on the other hand
has a boyfriend. A supposed vacation for mother and daughter was cancelled by
Leonore’s ex. Bryan, who was scheduled for a security related work in Istanbul,
Turkey invites them to accompany him. So they travel and tour throughout the
city. Mills was unaware that the same group who was involved in his daughter’s
kidnapping is out for revenge, particularly Marko Hoxha’s father. The same guy
he had talked to over the phone with those same lines above.
In this sequel, Bryan and Lenore
were taken. Kim on the other hand was able to successfully flee her capturer's
when Bryan called her using a mini-mobile phone as small as a Tic Tac box. Mills,
with skills which can hunt a prey thousands of miles away, was able to lead her
daughter through where they were taken by memorizing each and every turn at
every nook and corner while counting each second and minute which passes by. Using
the grenade blasts to pinpoint the exact area was sleek. Apparently, the theory is that there is a few seconds of delay for sound to
travel from where the grenade was blown towards where Mills was held captive.
Every second of sound delay was used to measure the distance between two
places.
As expected, Bryan escaped with
the aid of his daughter. Unfortunately, Lenore was still taken when Bryan left
her for a moment to help Kim who was being chased through rooftops. The scene
is reminiscent of movies with Brazil, particularly Rio with characters chasing each
other all over the ladder-like rooftops such as in Fast Five. Going back to Taken
2, it was quite predictable that Lenore was kept alive when the mercenaries
could have easily killed her soon as they discovered she was left behind when
Mills escaped.
So I’m sure you know how it ends.
Kim was already safe at the U.S. embassy in Istanbul through Sam (one of Bryans’
friends) help when Bryan went after Lenore’s takers. That scene between Marko’s
father and Bryan was monumental. Bryan offered to end it right there by walking
away if the gang’s leader swore not to seek vengeance anymore because he’s
tired of all it. The old man unfortunately attempted to shoot him but too bad,
the gun was bullet empty. Thus, he was killed too like everyone else before him
and whoever will still attempt to hunt Mills in the future in an endless
vendetta.
If there was anything good which came
out of it, Mills is back with his family again at the end of the movie with the
addition of Jamie, Kim’s boyfriend.
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