October 4, 2012 | 4:39 pm

Review: ‘Taken 2’

Posted by Joan Alperin-Schwartz

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'Taken 2', a sequel to the very highly successful 2008 film, 'Taken' which made 230 million dollars, once again stars the very tall, very talented, Liam Neeson as Bryan Mills, ex CIA agent extraordinaire.

The film has great action, edge of your seats thrills and many...unintentional, funny moments, that had me LMAO.

For example...(don't worry this isn't a SPOILER)...During one very intense scene in the film, Bryan is on the phone with his daughter, Kim (Maggie Grace) who's hiding from the bad guys in their hotel room. He tells her to...'Grab a couple of grenades, a couple of guns but as you walk through the lobby...LOOK CASUAL'.

Hey, I always look casual when carrying a submachine gun...Don't you? Okay so, 'Taken 2' written by Luc Besson and Robert Mark Kamen (writers of the first one) has some over the top dialogue and several implausible scenes...including...

One where Kim, who's failed her driving test several times, because she cannot parallel park, drives a taxi, as if she's Mario Andretti on SPEED, through the streets of Istanbul, evading bullets and bad guys...while her daddy, who's in the passenger seat, shoots at their evil Albanian pursuers, as he screams...'Go faster Kim...Go faster...faster'.

Get the picture? Anyway if you're wondering why all this is happening, you have to FLASHBACK to the scene in the first 'Taken' when, Bryan tied the sleezy dude who kidnapped Kim, to a chair and proceeded to electrocute him, over and over again.

Turns out, sleezy dude's daddy, Albanian gangsta, Murad (Rade Sherbedgia) wants big time revenge against Bryan. Can't really blame him...He was the cutest of his four sons.

So when he finds out that Bryan and his wife, Lenore (Famke Janssen) and daughter Kim are in Istanbul, Murad and his band of not so merry men, head for Turkey, to kidnap them and do what angry, hate-filled Abanian bad guys do best.

'Taken 2' directed by Olivier Megaton ('Transporter 3) has car chases, gun battles, and close up hand to hand combat by the very charismatic, Liam Neeson.

Yes, you can spot what's going to happen a mile away, but it's still fun...Just don't think about it too much. For that reason I gave 'Taken 2' which opens in theaters Friday October 6, 2012, 3 1/2 bagels out of 5.

John was not so bagel generous. Check out our video to see what he thought and to see some of my excellent karate moves.

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