david-546

Yes cheese. Unbelievable. Cartoon characters. Over the top acting. Graphic fake fight scenes. Laughable dialogue. Did I miss anything? Oh yes the original was a bit cheesy too but it was watchable and the character played by Patrick Swayze seemed more believable then Jake Gyllenhaal. Jake looked like a pumped up cartoon character. Was that real or clever CGI? Kelly Lynch had a better part then Danielle Melchior. Best part was the bands but no one can compare to Jeff Healy. None of the bands were drawn out. No Sam Elliott. The cop dad of Danielle Melchior was why. His name was Big Dick. Was that because his name was Dick and he was Big. Or...... Connor MacGregor was OTT. He sounded like Fat Bastard from the Austin Powers flicks. And the guy who played Brandt was no Ben Gazzara. All of the fights looked so staged as to be laughable. Except the dialogue was even funnier, unintentionally of course. Many of the sub characters seemed contrived even if they were sympathetic. Hard to believe Doug Liman did this given his background with some of the Bourne films. I gave it 5 stars because I actually sat there and watched it through because I wanted to compare it with the original. Boring it wasn't. Maybe Gyllenhaal was just having a good time. Hard to believe he did this cheese. If Jean Claude Van Damme was in it, it might have been more believable. But a pumped up Jake? Well. The original was kind of fun but definitely not an award film even as it became a cult film. This one? This is just cheese. Not cult.

Too bad they didn't have the Razzies back then. This film would have been a sure fire nominee even winner. Ok sets scenery backdrop all great. But Grant Sinatra and Loren all horribly miscast. Goofy lines. Grant looked like he wanted to be anywhere except in this movie. Music over the top. Too bad Spagehti Westerns hadn't come. It would be perfect. And filmed on location in Spain. Even the battle scenes were mediocre. Ok Loren and Sinatra looked passionately at each other. Help. But she was a Trollope. She couldn't figure out whether she wanted the dashing British captain Grant or the Spanish fighter Sinatra. Sinatra Spanish? Even the kisses were totally boring. Maybe work better as a disaster movie. LOL. Everybody did a lot of looking at each other. Help what is this gibberish.

I came into this film less than 10 minutes in. It was of course on a streaming channel. I decided to watch, and I admit I was rather surprised. Oh yes all the poor "Taken" Liam Neeson actions fans are fuming because well this film is slow on the action. But that's what made it so good. You became interested in Jim (Liam) and the boy running from the cartel. And Jim's promise to the dying mother to get him there. The story is a tender one of the relationship between the boy and Jim. It had an ending that left me teary. Oh yes there was action but it limited and even that was low key. This film is the story of the relationship. The background of the cartel chasing them was an excuse for the picture. Nicely directed. Yes done a few years back it would have had Clint Eastwood playing Jim. Well worth the watch. Action fans stick with Taken.