I
like movies. Okay, I love movies. I watched Taken
a few years ago and I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed
it. Going into the movie, I had no
expectations whatsoever. It ended up
being a much better movie than I ever could have imagined. In the same way that a defensive end
surprises a quarterback and sacks him, Taken
really surprised me. I was aware of
Liam Neeson, but he had not played a signature role until Taken. Also, I had not heard
any of my friends talking about it, nor did I even remember the movie being at
the theaters. Typically, that
combination is a dead giveaway that a movie is either not any good or a slept
on classic. Taken falls in the latter category.
The
plot, acting and concept were all above average. If you have not seen the movie, I will try my
hand at giving a brief summary of the plot.
Liam Neeson’s character was a veteran CIA operative and because of his
career, he missed a lot of important moments in his daughter’s life. His career ruined his marriage as well. So, his ex-wife and mother of his daughter
married a rich man. They both moved in
with him. Shortly thereafter, Neeson had
a change of heart and decided that his relationship with his family was more
important that his career. He began
trying to reconnect with his daughter, who was then a teenager. In doing so, he begrudgingly agreed to allow her
to travel with a friend to Europe for the summer. He thought she would be staying with the
family of her friend. Unbeknownst to
him, his daughter and her friend really planned to spend the entire summer
following a rock band across Europe.
When he discovers his daughter’s plan (and his wife was well aware), it
was too late. His daughter was taken by men dealing in human trafficking. He was determined to get his daughter
back. If you have not seen it, I highly
recommend it.
Can
you think of a sequel that is better than the original movie? I cannot.
Ironically, that same principle seems to hold true in music as
well. I do not know why directors fail
to follow up a classic movie with another classic. I have a few ideas though. What are the components of a classic
movie? Great acting, plot, timing,
original idea, and a great music score are a few components contributing to a
great movie. Of the factors, I think a
novel idea might be the most important.
There has to be something about the movie that make it just a little
different and better than a movie with a similar plot. It needs the “it” factor. Saw comes
to mind. I think it is a classic horror
movie. Jigsaw was a little more
diabolical and sinister than most serial killers in movies. It had the “it” factor. But, the sequel, and subsequent 25 other
“Saw” movies never lived up to the hype from the original movie. In hip hop, the phenomena is known as a
“sophomore slump.” And, despite knowing
that a sequel will rarely be as good as the first movie, we still go to the
movie and expect to see a product more novel, and more special than the
first. We are almost always disappointed
at the result. But, don’t we know that
before we pay to see the sequel? I
digress.
By
no means am I saying Taken 2 is not a
good movie. I think it is very
entertaining, but I think it is also very predictable. Predictability can be a good thing in certain
circles, but in the movie realm, it is not.
In this installment, Neeson’s character has to travel to Instanbul for
business. His ex-wife and daughter end
up surprising him and meeting him there.
All the while, the family members of the men Neeson killed in the first
movie while trying to save his daughter were plotting to get revenge for their
collective losses. If you have not seen
the movie, I will not ruin it for you. I
recommend this movie and I think it will keep your attention for two
hours. But, it is not as good as the
first movie. You already knew that
though.
Peace
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