Not Taken With Taken 2

Sequels are rarely better than the original movies. In essence, it's an identical movie – with a change of scenery – that you already know the ending to. Enter: Taken 2.

For those of you who enjoyed Taken, you might appreciate part two because of its similarities. That also means that if you haven't seen the first part, you might be a little confused by this movie. Regardless, the action-packed film will still have you at the edge of your seat in suspense wondering what's going to happen next.

The movie begins in Albania at a funeral for all of the gang members that Bryan Millis (Liam Neeson) killed in Taken. After a few words, the flash of the half moon gang tattoo makes it evident that the gang is back for revenge and the leader makes it clear that he wants his members to find Bryan and bring him back on Albanian soil, alive. With many references to the original movie, the Albanian gang members go to Turkey, where they kidnap Bryan and his wife (Famke Janssen, X-Men). Bryan's daughter, Kim (Maggie Grace, "Lost") is the one helping to rescue her 'taken' father this time. After Bryan gets his hands on a gun, the rest is history.

“When a dog has a bone, the last thing you want to do is try to take it from him.”

Using his particular set of skills, Neeson continuously finds ways to fight his way out of improbable situations that are comical because they are so unreal. Eventually Bryan goes on another rampage and kills countless numbers of the Albanians, snapping necks and taking names, despite being outnumbered in every situation.

While the concept of the movie was great in 2008 when Taken came out, to recreate the same storyline typically doesn't work to well. Watching Neeson run through those Albanians one-by-one is entertaining, but only to a certain extent. It becomes too unrealistic when the daughter is speeding, swerving a stick-shift taxi through the streets of Istanbul when she couldn't even pass her driving test back in L.A. because she didn't know how to parallel park. The twist of his daughter rescuing him is a good effort but it simply doesn't hold the same sentiment.

The end leaves you with speculation that there may very well be a Taken 3, but after seeing the first two parts, maybe the Millis family should just stop going abroad.