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Liam Neeson stars in 'Taken 2': movie review

( PG-13 ) ( Monitor Movie Guide )

'Taken 2' is improbable but enjoyable as Neeson and his family are threatened again by thugs.

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Magali Bragard/20th Century Fox/AP
Liam Neeson stars in 'Taken 2.'
  • By Peter Rainer Film critic

“Taken 2” is the sequel to just plain old “Taken,” a 2008 action thriller starring Liam Neeson that turned out to be a monstro hit. Reprising his role as a former CIA operative who now runs his own private security firm, Neeson is once again the stalwart center of this giddy, entirely improbable and improbably enjoyable escapade in which he is abducted along with daughter (Maggie Grace) – again! – and his ex-wife (Famke Janssen).

It seems that the Albanian overlord (Rade Serbedzija) whose sex-trafficker son Neeson killed in “Taken” is out for big-time revenge. Accompanied by a cadre of goony thuggish Albanians (Albania should sue the filmmakers), he makes life miserable for the Neeson household assembled in Istanbul until dad does what he does best – punching, maiming, garroting, etc. The director of this jamboree is appropriately named Olivier Megaton. Grade: B (Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action, and some sensuality.)

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