Hello, and welcome to another edition of “Drop Liam Neeson and his family into a historic city with a bunch of Albanian thugs and see what happens: The Movie.”

Today’s guests are the fathers, brothers and sons of the henchmen that Neeson massacred his first time around. We’ve traded Paris for Istanbul, and the cameras are going to show the Hagia Sophia 20 times throughout the movie to make sure you definitely know where they are. The game’s only rule is don’t kidnap Neeson’s wife or daughter, or another senseless killing spree will ensue.

Whoops, too late.

“Taken 2” is a flashy imitation of the 2008 surprise hit, but without any of the entertaining thrills, twists or creative brutality of the original. Neeson has the distinguished bad*** role down to a science, but his menacing presence and impressive skill set are wasted on a plot so lazy that it needs multiple flashbacks from “Taken” to explain itself.

Director Olivier Megaton and writer Luc Besson bring in an unimaginative film that never comes close to edge-of-the-seat excitement. It takes car chases, shootouts, fight scenes and interrogations, and mashes them all together, filling in the blanks with improbable escapes and painfully cliched dialogue.

The whole movie feels recycled — the epitome of an unnecessary sequel. The makers weren’t even creative enough to think of a decent title. This lifeless action flick features a captivating performance as usual from veteran star Neeson, but that’s about it.

The story picks up three years after the Paris bloodbath, with Bryan Mills (Neeson) and his family back home in California. He’s being a typical father: teaching driving lessons to his daughter, Kim (Maggie Grace), and harassing her new boyfriend. After a private security job in Istanbul, Kim and Mills’ newly single ex-wife Lenore (Famke Janssen) surprise him, and they decide to stay there on vacation.

Meanwhile, back in Albania, gangster Murad Krasniqi (Rade Serbedzija) is burying all of his scumbag sex traffickers that Mills mowed down in search of his daughter. His criminal network tracks Mills to Istanbul, and Krasniqi plots his revenge. Then, when Krasniqi’s army of goons captures Mills and Lenore, the film pulls a “clever reversal” as Kim has to find her parents and help them escape.

On paper, “Taken 2” has all the elements of an exciting action film. There are hunts through crowded bazaars, fast-paced car chases along narrow cobbled streets, the requisite amount of ass kicking and bullet holes, and that nefarious bad guy who likes to torture people with knives. The action predictably culminates in an abandoned Turkish bathhouse.

The problem is it’s all filler. Spoiler alert: There’s never any doubt that all the bad guys will die painful deaths, which of course they do.

Neeson continues his improbable second wind as an aging action star, looking nowhere near his 60 years of age. He utters every line, even the dumbest ones, with the self-assured confidence of a seasoned pro. He makes beating up five guys at once seem like another day at the office.

The script makes the dull plot even tougher to stand. None of the Albanians get any real lines except Krasniqi, who sticks to villainous clichés, like “We will have our revenge” and “I’m going to send you home piece by piece.” Neeson’s lines are just as bad, often including exact phrases from the first installment: “Listen to me carefully Kim. …Your mother and I are going to be taken.” Kim responds expectedly: “What are you going to do?” Mills answers: “What I do best.”

“Taken 2” is just going through the motions. It’s faking the high stakes. There’s never any real danger: no nameless thug who could ever match Mills’ “particular set of skills.” It’s a tiresome blur of run, drive, shoot, punch, repeat.

Published on October 10, 2012 at 11:25 pm

Contact Rob: rjmarvin@syr.edu