Taken 2

Olivier Megaton's Taken 2 (US, 2012) - The “Hey - wait a minute’s” set in well before the closing credits roll, but while it’s unspooling, Taken 2 hangs together slickly enough to provide an entertaining, action-packed slice of distraction. Working with co-screenwriter Robert Mark Kamen, Luc Besson reinforces his supremacy as filmdom’s leading employer of actors who look like non-Western thugs, while director Olivier Megaton puts a preternaturally assured yet feeling-his-age Liam Neeson through his mellow-yet-lethal paces as Bryan Mills, the guy whose “skill set” is bad news for bad guys. RATING: 7.