Movie review: Taken 2 (+trailer)

Retired-CIA operative Bryan Mills (Liam Neeson) is not a man to be messed with.

We first met Mills in Taken (2008) when he rescued his daughter who had been abducted in Paris to work in an illegal prostitution ring.

Against the odds, he single-handedly overcame a ruthless band of Albanian gangsters, leaving plenty of blood split.

Mills thought his troubles were over. But back in Albania, bodies were being buried and families were grieving for their lost sons and brothers.

They vowed revenge on Mills - and Taken 2 was born.

Mills is getting on better with his grown daughter Kim (Maggie Grace) and ex-wife Lenore (Famke Janssen) in the new film and invites them to join him in Istanbul for a holiday when he finishes his latest assignment.

But the Albanians are also on their way to Turkey and they want to inflict slow pain on Mills and his family.

Murad Krasniqi (Rade Serbedzija) lost his son and nothing less than Mills' death will avenge his loss. Murad wants all the Mills family but Kim manages to escape the initial kidnap.

While Mills tries to escape the kidnapper's lair, he communicates with Kim to keep her safe and help him secure freedom.

As sequels go, Taken 2 has done a great job in presenting a plausible follow-up that maintains the path set in the original and holds its own as a stand-alone action thriller.

Taken 2

(M) 94 minutes

Rating: 4 / 5 stars