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Movie review: 'Taken 2'

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Nobody's more serious than Neeson in this part. The hulking ex-boxer lumbers through Istanbul's narrow streets, shouts at his driver's-test-flunking daughter (“Faster!”) when they wind up in a stolen cab, takes a beating and delivers one, too.

But Besson, who lets Olivier Megaton direct these films, has run out of ways to put characters into and out of jeopardy. “Taken 2” defies logic and credibility as it puts its characters in harm's way and refuses to take the easy, logical way out. And hilariously, our villain hears explosions or shots fired and always says the same thing: “Go und zee what happened.”

It's as propulsive and kinetic as the original “Taken,” all chases and shoot-outs and brawls and narrow escapes. But this sequel's shortcomings make us feel like the ones who've been taken.

— Roger Moore,

The Orlando Sentinel

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