My first thoughts while watching it was feeling pity over this Mills family - especially for the mother and daughter. They could not be any more unlucky with two consecutive kidnappings in just a span of 2-3 years (I'm guessing). As an action movie, it works. But you'll have a hard time believing this much bad luck can befall a family. So much that as an attempt to pacify this string of horrible events, they toned down the violence to its hostages. For one, I always thought the face of the mother should be covered in blood- but we only see red smudges that barely resemble blood. Overkill averted. I felt the producers made a conscious effort not to torture Mills' family too much since it would become too ridiculously far-fetched for anyone to believe considering what happened to them in the first movie. Not that it isn't "far-fetched" already- movies have always been about shoving realism aside, but this was almost unrealistic even for a movie. Almost.
That's pretty much my only complaint. The rest of the movie is exactly what I wanted the sequel to be. The title itself says "Taken" so what did you expect? Neeson is bad-ass as always, and seeing this lump of testosterone interact with his divorcee ex-wife and love-struck daughter is a delight in itself. He is the glue that ties everything together, and I can't think of anyone else who could remotely fill his shoes.
Did I mention the movie was incredibly entertaining? 8/10
