Monday, October 15, 2012

Taken 2

In Istanbul, retired CIA operative Bryan Mills and his wife are taken hostage by the father of a kidnapper Mills killed while rescuing his daughter.


 Director: Olivier Megaton
Writers: Luc Besson (screenplay), Robert Mark Kamen (screenplay)
Stars:Liam Neeson, Famke Janssen and Maggie Grace
Cast:
  • Liam Neeson as Bryan Mills, a retired Intelligence agent
  • Maggie Grace as Kim Mills, Bryan's daughter
  • Famke Janssen as Lenore, Bryan's ex-wife
  • Rade Šerbedžija as Murad Hoxha, chief of the Albanian mafia and head of the kidnappers
  • Leland Orser as Sam
  • Jon Gries as Casey
  • D.B. Sweeney as Bernie
  • Luke Grimes as Jamie, Kim's boyfriend
  • Kevork Malikyan as Inspector Durmaz

Plot:

After the events in Paris in Taken, family members of the men whom Bryan Mills (Neeson) killed while searching for his daughter, Kim (Grace), return to their hometown, Tropojë, Albania, for the funeral of the men whom Bryan had killed. During the ceremony, Murad Hoxha (Šerbedžija), the employer of the men and father of Marko, a victim whom Bryan killed by electrocution, states that they will find Bryan to avenge the deaths of their loved ones.
When arriving at Kim's home to take her on a driving lesson, Bryan learns from her mother Lenore (Janssen), who is currently having relationship problems with her husband, that Kim is not there and that she has a new boyfriend. After Lenore's husband cancels their holiday to China, Bryan suggests that Kim and Lenore join him in Istanbul after he has finished some work he has agreed to do. After being led to believe that they have not taken him up on the offer, Bryan is surprised to find that Kim and Lenore have indeed flown out to join him, using his friends to surprise him.
Later, after lunch in the marketplace, Kim stays behind in an attempt to help her parents rekindle their relationship. While they are out, they are pursued by Murad's men, and, despite Bryan's efforts, Lenore is captured, forcing Bryan to surrender. Before he does so, he calls Kim to explain the situation and tells her to hide. With advice from Bryan, she is able to evade the kidnappers.
Bryan wakes up with his hands tied to a pole in a dark room. Using a communications device that he has hidden in his sock, Bryan calls Kim, instructing her to go to the US Embassy and tell them what happened, but she begs for a chance to help him and Lenore, which he decides to give her. Under Bryan's guidance, she opens up his weaponry suitcase and throws a live grenade out of the window. Bryan uses the time it takes for the sound of the explosion to deduce his location. He then has her take a gun and two more grenades and travel towards his location via the rooftops while he frees himself from his restraints. Bryan then sends steam up a chimney to pinpoint his location, and Kim drops the gun down the chimney, allowing Bryan to use it to kill the guards and escape the building, leaving Lenore behind while he rescues Kim, who is being chased.
Bryan later returns, intending to rescue Lenore, but he is unable to do so as she has already been taken away, forcing Bryan and Kim to drive through the city in a stolen taxi while being chased by Murad's men. The chase ends with the two of them having to break through a military checkpoint leading into the US Embassy. Bryan calls Sam (Orser), a friend and former CIA colleague, and has him call off the embassy guards. Having memorized the route that the kidnappers used when they first took Bryan and Lenore to Murad's safe house, he returns to the building and kills everyone before confronting Murad. After confirming with Murad that his two remaining sons will want revenge should he die, Bryan offers to let him walk away if he leaves him and his family alone. Murad seemingly agrees, and Bryan drops his gun, but when his back is turned, Murad grabs the gun and attempts to shoot Bryan, only to discover that the gun has no ammunition left. Murad attempts to attack Bryan, but Bryan pushes him against a wall, which has a spike coming out from it, impaling and killing him instantly. Bryan then reunites with Lenore.
Three weeks later, the Mills family eats at a café to celebrate Kim passing her driving test. They are joined, much to Bryan's surprise, by Kim's boyfriend Jamie, with Kim jokingly asking her father not to shoot him.

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