When prince Hercules learns of his real identity, he must choose to flee with his true love - Hebe, Princess of Crete - or to fulfill his destiny by overthrowing the tyrannical rule of the king and restoring peace to a land in hardship. From: IMDb.com
Directed by: Renny Harlin
Starring: Kellan Lutz, Gaia Weiss, Scott Adkins and others
Actually, I really wasn't hating on the movie at first. It was just
being like any other standard, modern action flick and to me it seemed
that the only reason why people weren't as taken by it (no pun
intended) was because it was taking a sort of a different approach this
time around and it was being less straightforward with all of its
violence and story. But no, as the movie progressed it started to
become obvious that this movie was truly being not only less good than
its predecessor but also definitely lesser than the average genre
attempt.
And I have to be honest; It wasn't like the original movie was being a
classic or perfect one to begin with. The main reason why it still
became as popular and respected as it did was because it was being way
better than it had the right to be. I mean, it had a very standard
story that it however managed to use to its own advantage. It took a
very raw and straightforward approach to things, especially its action
and violence. It was a very bold movie, in which Liam Neeson also
suddenly got noticed as a genuine and respectable action star. But all
those things aside, it also was still being a very simple movie, of
which I barely remember anything of, only 4 years after its release.
This sequel is trying to do a couple of things differently, though in
essence it still features a similar type of concept. I think it's a
positive thing this movie tried to be different and not just a rehash
of the first movie but it unfortunately wasn't anything that worked out
well for the movie.
A big problem was its pacing. Normally it sounds like a good thing for
an action movie to have a good quick pace to it and be a quite short
one as well but this is a movie that most definitely should had been at
least 15 minutes longer. Instead, everything feels rushed and things
just happen too fast. Literly every time you walk out of the room for 5
minutes and return after that, the situation for its main characters
have drastically changed. It doesn't feel good or natural the way the
story transpires and how rapidly certain events follow up on each
other.
And everything that happens in this movie is also far from being all
that great or involving. No, you won't ever care very much for the Liam
Neeson character and the movie feels like a very shallow one with all
of its emotions and characters. There is more depth to a Chuck Norris
flick, so to speak.
A thing that this movie also really could had used was a more visible
main villain. This is the type of movie and story that could had used a
'James Bond' type of evil villain in it but the villain in this one is
only clearly visible in the beginning and at the end of the movie and
mostly does just the talking.
It was also weird to see how the violence worked out in this one, or
rather said, how it didn't. This movie in no way ever felt like a raw
or extreme one. Instead, it was being rather tame all and I don't even
remember many people dying in this, which is an odd thing to note,
knowing how raw and straightforward the first movie was being with all
of its violence.
But really, I mostly watched this movie without having "Taken"
constantly in the back of my mind. I judged "Taken 2" as fair and
objectively as possible as a standalone movie but I just have to say
that it's a far from great genre movie, with too many flaws and
weaknesses in it to consider this a watchable enough one.
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. From: IMDb.com
Directed by: Olivier Megaton
Starring: Liam Neeson, Famke Janssen, Maggie Grace and others
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. From: IMDb.com
Directed by: Olivier Megaton
Starring: Liam Neeson, Famke Janssen, Maggie Grace and others
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. From: IMDb.com
Directed by: Olivier Megaton
Starring: Liam Neeson, Famke Janssen, Maggie Grace and others
While watching this movie I kept waiting for things to finally start of. It takes way to long for the movie to build up things. The movie is basically one big mysterious one, in which some odd things happen and when things finally get explained at the end, the movie still leaves more than a couple of unanswered questions and quite frankly, some things just don't make sense.
The movie could had become an interesting one, regarding religion and a scientific open approach about it but the movie doesn't really offer any material to think or debate about. It's as if the movie can't decide what angle to pick. Does it want to create a religious movie? Or does it want to create a deep going philosophical one, featuring arguments and hard facts. The end result now is something messy. It features realism as well as overblown movie moments, which doesn't really makes this a well balanced one. This movie basically is a poor man's "The Da Vinci Code". It makes this a very pointless movie to watch.
Not much wrong with its style though. The movie is visually good looking, which still makes the movie somewhat pleasant to watch.
It's mostly the story that makes this a silly one to watch. Once you start thinking about it, a lot of things in the movie just don't make sense. Why are some of these things occurring? And why are they happening in the way they are? The movie doesn't go to a lot of trouble to try and explain any of it. On top of that, the movie is also mostly predictable, in the way it progresses and it also isn't afraid to 'borrow' from other films.
The movie still has a pretty good cast with Patricia Arquette, Gabriel Byrne and Jonathan Pryce. So nothing wrong with the casting in this one. Everyon fits their roles well and especially Gabriel Byrne was good.
Had potential but it gets ruined by its silly story.
