Taken 2

[gansstraat]

Whilst not wishing to upset the majority of posters on this thread, IMO the original is a pretty poor, by-the-numbers revenge fantasy B movie. Dad loves daughter, daughter gets kidnapped by bad men, Dad finds bad men, kills them all and gets daughter back - the End. My 5 year old could have predicted how that plot would have gone.

Not that I've got anything against revenge fantasies but the dialogue, stereotypes and plot holes in Taken were just unforgivable:

"I will find you and I will kill you". Seriously?
The step-dad's got a private jet that can be prepped for an Atlantic crossing at a minute's notice. Seriously?
Guessing which particular Eastern European village the bad guy's from, simply from a 2 sec snatched recording on a mobile? Seriously?

I'm all for a decent action movie but this one was written for 14 yr adolescents in Midwest USA.

[Zaxxon]

A terrific film and I really enjoyed it, probably because I wasn't expecting a Kevin Spacey style plot twist thriller. It probably speaks to Dad's more than other groups, cause no matter how childish and sad it is, you are hoping and pushing him forward to succeed.

I just hope the next one also involves 2 x 6 inch nails and some mains electrics.

[P-Jay]

gansstraat said:

Whilst not wishing to upset the majority of posters on this thread, IMO the original is a pretty poor, by-the-numbers revenge fantasy B movie. Dad loves daughter, daughter gets kidnapped by bad men, Dad finds bad men, kills them all and gets daughter back - the End. My 5 year old could have predicted how that plot would have gone.

Not that I've got anything against revenge fantasies but the dialogue, stereotypes and plot holes in Taken were just unforgivable:

"I will find you and I will kill you". Seriously?
The step-dad's got a private jet that can be prepped for an Atlantic crossing at a minute's notice. Seriously?
Guessing which particular Eastern European village the bad guy's from, simply from a 2 sec snatched recording on a mobile? Seriously?

I'm all for a decent action movie but this one was written for 14 yr adolescents in Midwest USA.

I disagree, I think it's an exceptional by-the-numbers revenge movie, that's why it has such a big fan base and people rave about it, when Law Abiding Citizen which came out about the same time is largely forgotten.

"I will find you and I will kill you" - Brian doesn't say that to sound 'hard' like some east-end riod-head or the give the kidnappers the opportunity to surrender like to gob-ste Arnie character - he thinks it gives him him the best, yet very slim chance that the kidnappers might think it's more trouble than it's worth and not take her.

He doesn't "guess" the kidnappers home village from a 2 sec recording, his friends use their CIA connections to have it analysed by the sort of stuff you see on the discovery channel they used to find Talibanies, to me this doesn't seem out of the realms of all possibilities, certainly more plausible than most Film plots

How long does it take to prep a private jet? I've now idea, took James May about 20 mins to prep his little prop plane to fly back to the UK, I would imagine a private plane lease company doesn't have their planes mothballed in hangers waiting for a booking in 3 weeks time, they're probably pretty much ready to go for the next job.

Yeah none of these things are really everyday real life things, but close enough to enjoy a film. If you want you can poke massive holes in most films, but the alternative is watching a film when a ex CIA guys daughter gets kidnapped by sex traffickers, he shouts and beats his chest like anyone would, fly’s to Paris on a packed 747, spends 2 hours in Immigration, goes to the flat that the police won't let him into, cries for a bit, begs his old work mates for any info and 5 years later gets a call to say his daughter was found dead in a wood somewhere after an overdose. Who the hell wants to watch a film like that?

[Pixel Pusher]

P-Jay said:

Law Abiding Citizen which came out about the same time is largely forgotten.

I watched this last night on Film 4, and to be honest, I think it is largely forgotten due to it being utter st.

[marcosgt]

Taken was OK, I'll not mind watching a second (unless it's really crap), but Unknown was much better.

Sure you guess the ending, but you KNOW the ending of Taken, it's just another Die Hard really with less impressive special effects.

M.

PS Ahhhhh - I recorded LAC! Oh well - I've got Cabaret too

[goldblum]

gansstraat said:

Whilst not wishing to upset the majority of posters on this thread, IMO the original is a pretty poor, by-the-numbers revenge fantasy B movie. Dad loves daughter, daughter gets kidnapped by bad men, Dad finds bad men, kills them all and gets daughter back - the End. My 5 year old could have predicted how that plot would have gone.

Not that I've got anything against revenge fantasies but the dialogue, stereotypes and plot holes in Taken were just unforgivable:

"I will find you and I will kill you". Seriously?
The step-dad's got a private jet that can be prepped for an Atlantic crossing at a minute's notice. Seriously?
Guessing which particular Eastern European village the bad guy's from, simply from a 2 sec snatched recording on a mobile? Seriously?

I'm all for a decent action movie but this one was written for 14 yr adolescents in Midwest USA.

You're doing a disservice to Midwest USA adolescents.

[Pixel Pusher]

marcosgt said:

PS Ahhhhh - I recorded LAC! Oh well - I've got Cabaret too

Only my opinion. You may feel differently.

[Halb]

P-Jay said:

I disagree, I think it's an exceptional by-the-numbers revenge movie, that's why it has such a big fan base and people rave about it, when Law Abiding Citizen which came out about the same time is largely forgotten.

That's because LAC is utter wk.


One of the reasons I liked Taken is because of the realistic fight scenes. They're not hitting each other for 20 minutes with barely any damage and knuckles that still function. He's an army sort so he gets in there, chops their neck, or jabs them with his finger or punches their balls or something and they go down. Luckily there is a mass of dirty Albanian tts lining up to take the punishment.
Love the scene where he is scoping the building notes all the bad guys and follows his plan to kill them all.

[RZ1]

Looking forward to this, Taken was an awesome film

[Pesty]

gansstraat said:

Whilst not wishing to upset the majority of posters on this thread, IMO the original is a pretty poor, by-the-numbers revenge fantasy B movie. Dad loves daughter, daughter gets kidnapped by bad men, Dad finds bad men, kills them all and gets daughter back - the End. My 5 year old could have predicted how that plot would have gone.

Not that I've got anything against revenge fantasies but the dialogue, stereotypes and plot holes in Taken were just unforgivable:

"I will find you and I will kill you". Seriously?
The step-dad's got a private jet that can be prepped for an Atlantic crossing at a minute's notice. Seriously?
Guessing which particular Eastern European village the bad guy's from, simply from a 2 sec snatched recording on a mobile? Seriously?

I'm all for a decent action movie but this one was written for 14 yr adolescents in Midwest USA.

Yeah yeah we know. We also know there is more than one construction site in Paris but we don't care.

Yes you could rip the plot to shreads if you wanted. Belive me I usualy do but in this case I just watched and enjoyed.

Find me another film where the good guy shoots an inocent woman or torures a man then leaves him to die? they always wimp out.

[LuS1fer]

Very poor grammar. Shouldn't it be "Taken as well"

[Raify]

Pesty said:

gansstraat said:

.....
The step-dad's got a private jet that can be prepped for an Atlantic crossing at a minute's notice. Seriously?
.......

Yeah yeah we know. We also know there is more than one construction site in Paris but we don't care.

Yes you could rip the plot to shreads if you wanted. Belive me I usualy do but in this case I just watched and enjoyed.

Find me another film where the good guy shoots an inocent woman or torures a man then leaves him to die? they always wimp out.

It's just a film, but...

Brian is told he has 96 hours from kidnap to find her. When he meets Jean-Claude he says he has 80 left. It took him 16 hours to fly over, check the flat and beat the crap out of the spotter.

What if he tailed the Albanians from Port de Glichy to the construction site?

Like I said, just a (great) film. Stop searching for plot holes and enjoy.

[JimboJambo]

Elroy Blue said:

I watched UNKNOWN last night. The still above could have been taken from that film. Liam Neilson plays....Liam Neilson.

Very predictable, guessed the ending early on, but not a bad few hours.

Who does Liam Neeson play in that film?

[Pesty]

I turned unknown off after about 20 minutes.

[AngryApples]

Pesty said:

I turned unknown off after about 20 minutes.

Fair one, I loved Taken and fell into a large trap with Unknown - that was ste!

[Halb]

Skii said:

fk it - just bring back Arnie.

Raw Deal on tonight.

[Hilts]

Elroy Blue said:

I watched UNKNOWN last night. The still above could have been taken from that film. Liam Neilson plays....Liam Neilson.

Very predictable, guessed the ending early on, but not a bad few hours.

Liam Neilson..lol

[BenM77]

I love Taken, one of the best action films in a long time.

Liam Neeson nails this role and the film worked perfectly, the action scenes are great and even when you watch it the 3rd or 4th time you still get a buzz! Especially when he goes into the house to find Marco, no way was I expecting him to kick off with his hands in his pockets and heavily outnumbered. That scene and when he shoots his friends wife are top notch.

We used to have so many bloke films back in the Arnie days, this is a proper Man film.

[VinceFox]

Original is what i refer to as a BDM (big dumb movie) or a homer simpson movie. It's a very good example of one tho and neeson makes it.

The only real issue i have is the awful, awful worlds slowest car chase in it.

[McClure]

I thought the first one was predictable, uninspiring bilge.