Its a no brainer that when a film has proven to be a financial success, then a sequel is warranted to meet the market demand and maximize profits while keeping a low risk of failure. In the case of Luc Besson's produced action thriller Taken with Liam Neeson, it was a surprise sleeper hit, pulling in over a $100 million at the US box office alone so it only makes perfect business sense for the studio to develop another installment. Taken co-scriptwriter Robert Mark Kamen has briefly told LA Times that a sequel is indeed on the table, although its probably in the early stage of development. To this, I say hell yeah! A throw back to old school 80's style action is definitely up my alley which is why I'm down with seeing the return of Bryan Mills as he brutally dispense his wrath once more. I wonder if the writer will use the kidnapping angle again or will he come up with something different.
Also on the table is an American version of District 13 (aka Banlieue 13), a sci-fi parkour action extravaganza we have discuss many times here before on Twitch. The big question on my mind is where the hell are they going to find an actor in Hollywood who is willing to jump across one building to the next and perform other crazy parkour feats. It takes a special breed of physical capable performers like parkour founder David Belle and martial artist/stuntman Cyril Raffaelli to do what they do. Put me down as skeptical yet curious.
Taken is even better when you see the version we got in Europe and the UK, which was trimmed mightily for the US... an '18' in the UK (somewhere between 'R' and 'NC-17' depending how extreme it is) and a PG-13 in the US. And months later, too.
Thanks evil:cat, I've only seen the Euro version and didn't know it had been trimmed for the U.S. When it comes to DVD unless there is an uncut director's cut I'll be getting a Euro version because I can't imagine watching a cut version of this.
Better than Bourne??? Comon, now you're exaggerating. Taken was very good, I agree completely, but better than Bourne? Nope! I don't think a Banlieu 13 American version will work. But I'm happy to see Hollywood prove me wrong.
Ok, maybe not better than BOURN story-wise I'll give you that of course but I couldn't tolerate the damn shaky Cam that started in the second one. Coupled with stupid editing it killed the fight in the third one which would have been the best hand to hand fight of the trilogy.
So in term how the action sequences where handled, yes TAKEN was far superior.
Taken was, quite simply, the worst action/revenge movie I've seen in a long long time.
The script was so bad I couldn't stop laughing (the sh... R n' B singer, come on!; the daughter who wants to become a singer, come on!, a separated couple to try to make it more authentic, come on!, etc.). I hope one day genre cinema lovers outside France could open their eyes and realize how much Luc Be$$on sucks.
Taken Again... His daughter goes abroad again and gets Taken.... Again....
No she doesn't get Taken, she goes backpacking in Europe with Kim from 24 and Nicky from the Bourne films and he only thinks she's been kidnapped . So he teams up with Jack Bauer and Jason Bourne and they go rampaging through the continent torturing people for information ( who are in fact telling the truth when they scream they don't know anything ) Unfortunately for them one of the people they torture is a friend of Denzel Washington's character Creasy from Man On Fire who comes after them.
And they all end up in a cabin in the woods where the girls are after having been scared there by a cougar.
Actually I'd watch that. Maybe instead of a cabin they end up at that HOSTEL...
I noticed one strange thing about Taken; Dad finds out that her real reason for coming to Europe is to follow the band U2 on their European tour. But at the very end, when she says: 'I love you, Daddy!' he replies, 'I love U2'. So why didn't he just take her himself, if he was such a fan?
USA must be the nation who remake most film`s in world. Can`t they come up with something original instead? A great like District 13 shouldn`t remade.
I wish the sequel to Taken will more action and better opponent`s for Liam. I also think his character should get more hurt in fight`s. He took them all without a scratch execpt in the final fight.
@falik lunj: :cheese:
I really like District 13, I watch it quite often as it's entertaining imho and I do parkour, too. A main reason why I like it is also, because it has David Belle in it, who would play the role better than him??