REEL DEAL: Taken 2 - Box Office

“TAKEN 2” DOMINATES LOCAL (PHILS.) BOX-OFFICE AT P64.82 MILLION NATIONWIDE

“Taken 2” opened (Oct. 4) to a very strong weekend in the Philippines, dominating the local box-office with its 4-day nationwide opening weekend at P64.82million. The figure translates to an astounding 60% slice of the domestic market nationwide who came to see Neeson return as Bryan Mills, an ex-CIA whose special skills are unmatched and stops at nothing to protect his family.

REEL DEAL: Taken 2 REVIEW

What happens when something horrible experience in the past comes back fueled with revenge? Years ago, his daughter was taken and we went to to find them and killed them. Now years after the traumatic event, comes the families of the suspects to get back on a very dangerous man.

Taken 2  brings us to the Turkish city of Istanbul where it took place a year after the events in Paris, on a trip to Istanbul, Bryan Mills (Liam Neeson) gets a surprise visit from his daughter, Kim (Maggie Grace), and his ex-wife, Lenore (Famke Janssen). The happy reunion turns sour when Lenore is taken by people working for Murad Hoxha (Rade Šerbedžija), the employer of the men working in the Paris building where Kim's friend, Amanda, was found dead and the father of Marko Hoxha, whom Bryan killed in the previous film. With Lenore held hostage and Kim on the run, Mills must utilize all his lethal skills to rescue them and eliminate any who are seeking revenge against him.

REEL DEAL: Taken 2 - Liam Neeson Up Against Another Father's Hell-Bent Revenge

“Taken 2” braces for a down-to-the-wire action sequence between two fathers, one exacting revenge and the other trying to keep his family alive.  Liam Neeson reprises his role as Bryan Mills, a CIA operative with an unmatched set of skills who is pitted against Murad (Rade Sherbedgia) who in turn is hell-bent on taking down Mills and the rest of his family for the death of his son in Bryan’s hands. 

“TAKEN 2” reunites Neeson with his co-stars Famke Janssen and Maggie Grace, who play Bryan's estranged wife and his precious daughter. “Bryan's a total superhero,” says Janssen, weighing in on what made audiences connect with the first film. “TAKEN really came at a time when people needed that in their lives, because it's about family and protecting your family. He's a very American hero.”

REEL DEAL: Taken 2 - Istanbul SPOTLIGHT

TAKEN 2” PANS ISTANBUL IN RAW NORMALCY FOR ITS HIGH-OCTANE ACTION SCENES

Olivier Megaton who helms Liam Neeson’s sequel starrer “Taken 2” panned Istanbul with a fast-moving crew that’s rarely done on this sort of scale of a movie.  The director has stripped the crew to its bare essentials and took them into the streets of Istanbul.

Liam Neeson returns as Bryan Mills, the retired CIA agent who stopped at nothing to save his abducted daughter in “Taken.”  When he is targeted by a mysterious figure seeking vengeance, Bryan must employ his “particular set of skills” to protect his family against an army out to kill them. 

REEL DEAL: Taken 2 - Liam Nelson SPOTLIGHT

Shot in Istanbul, Turkey and directed by Olivier Megaton , “Taken 2” reunites Liam Neeson with his co-stars Famke Janssen and Maggie Grace in this rocket-paced action sequel that rivals some of the greatest gun-handlers in cinema history.

Neeson reprises the role of Bryan Mills, a father and an estranged husband who would do anything for his family in the movie.  Mills’ daughter having been kidnapped the first time. But he faces a different kind of conflict in “Taken 2.”  Liam Neeson returns as Bryan Mills, the retired CIA agent with a particular set of skills who stopped at nothing to save his daughter Kim from Albanian kidnappers.  When the father of one of the kidnappers swears revenge, and takes Bryan and his wife hostage during their family vacation in Istanbul, Bryan enlists Kim to help them escape, and uses the same advanced level of special forces tactics to get his family to safety and then systematically take out the kidnappers one by one.