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Taken 2 (International Trailer)

Bruce Hall: A more original title would have been nice; have THAT many people still not heard of the original? But since it looks like they're going to do the same story again only bigger, why risk everything by adding a colon to the title? Still, the original film is a guilty pleasure and whether you want to admit it or not, Luc Besson knows how to write cheesy thrillers you can't look away from. I look forward to another 90 minutes of watching Liam Neeson beat up every able bodied adult male in some exotic foreign country.

Jim Van Nest: I'm with you, Bruce. I loved the way Taken made it perfectly clear that the "hero" was going to win. That way, you didn't have to worry about him. You could just watch him kick ass. I expect the sequel to be more of the same and I, for one, can't wait for it.

Felix Quinonez Jr.: Yeah, yeah Liam Neeson is a badass, I get it. The reason I loved Taken so much was because I was really surprised by how much ass Neeson kicked but I feel like that's been done to death now and the novelty has worn off for me. But I did say the same thing when The Grey came out and I loved that movie. Damn, now I don't know what to do.

David Mumpower: Maggie Grace from Lost is making quite a career out of never being where she should be. She has plane crashes on islands, she gets kidnapped by slavers, she gets kidnapped by space prisoners and now she flees from terrorists in Istanbul. I wonder what her LinkedIn profile says about this. But I digress.

What I particularly like about the marketing for Taken 2 is its exploration of repercussions. Oftentimes in sequels, the first wave of bad guys is forgotten as our heroes move on to the next group of Big Bads. This is something I always believed was commendable of Die Hard with a Vengeance. The motivation of Jeremy Irons' character was plausible once revealed. Taken 2 has been designed from the perspective that no one ever sees a violent situation as justified. To Liam Neeson's character, Bryan Mills, each and every one of his murders in Taken was defensible. To everyone's favorite vaguely Eastern European actor, Rade Šerbedžija, his character views the situation as one rogue American crossing an ocean in order to destroy a lucrative business venture as well as spill the blood of Šerbedžija's men. Taken was personal for Bryan Mills and his daughter, Kim. Taken 2 is personal for Rade Šerbedžija's character, Murad Huxha. If Mills was willing to kill that many people in order to liberate his daughter, imagine what Huxha, presumably a monstrous criminal kingpin, will be willing to do in order to exact vengeance.

I am ecstatic over the quality of this trailer.

Kim Hollis: I agree that the trailer for Taken 2 is pretty damned exciting. I remember thinking the original looked absolutely ludicrous – and it was, in its way, but it was also a thoroughly enjoyable action flick. I love that they’ve figured out the only way to do a sequel to this film – and that is to set people out for vengeance against our hero. I’m totally there on opening night.

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