So Taken 2 is coming out this week. Liam Neeson is back and kicking ass! Kind of. For most of the movie he is actually just making his daughter feel uncomfortable, yelling at her on the phone, or patting his ex-wife's cheek. For those of you who loved the weird birthday party from the first one, you're in luck. The filmmakers haven't lost any of the normal family interactions and nuances the Mills family has on a daily basis.
There is some cool action, but unfortunately for Taken 2: America Knows Best, the scenes are sandwiched between Maggie Grace being confused/on the verge of tears/missing calls on her phone and Liam Neeson being tied up/starring at Famke Janssen/yelling at Maggie Grace on the phone (there is a lot of talking on the phone this time around!). The first movie was an above-average action movie, and number two is an action movie. I can pretty confidently say that much.
Now for some questions:
-How old is Kim Mills? Maybe seventeen? Older? Not in elementary school?
-Follow up question: Does Bryan Mills realize his daughter a teenager and not a six-year-old. "Hey family! We all almost died, but lets get some milkshakes! You like boys now?! I didn't know you were old enough for that?"
-Where did Boris the Blade find the information about Bryan being in Istanbul? Some logical gaps here that the audience is just supposed to accept (and I did accept them because it's fucking Taken 2. Why do you care about how he found him? Give it up. ACTION!).
-No one noticed the American girl throwing grenades out of windows?
And that was my review of Taken 2.
I did want to float an idea out to the internet dwellers (and the real reason for this post). Is it just me or has Luc Besson and co. trick American audiences into spending their time and money on something that is essentially making fun of our military consciousness.
We hear that Americans are supposed to be fat, lazy, and belligerant. That's one of the stereotypes. We're also supposed to be arrogant. Some think we're very cool. I know that there are a lot of perspectives regardless of what you're studying, but what I'm zeroing in on is what Trey Parker and Matt Stone satirized in Team America: World Police.
Imagine the Mills family as the American people as a whole. When one of them is kidnapped in a foreign country, the patriarch (military) goes into action. There is only one thing that he cares about getting back, and damn the consequences. That's not to say that this is necessarily wrong (especially in an action movie), but along the way they leave a mess of trouble for the bystanders without thinking of them, which is wrong. Taxis are stolen, food carts destroyed, homes demolished. Lives ruined.
Note that this is all taking place on foreign soil. The fight never comes to the Mills home. The American people never lose their lives. It's just the foreigners, so it's all good! Kim is throwing grenades all around Isstanbul and no seems to take note. She steals from working people without even thinking about it. There is a lack of awareness for the society around them.
Bryan won't let anyone help him because he doesn't think any else has the right skills to complete the mission. His way is the only way. It's his killing force that will protect what is his. And it's what will keep the terriosts from fucking with again. But this is a sequel, so they didn't stop trying once. What makes him think they'll stop after this? Probably because they'll see how patient he is with teaching his daughter how to drive.
Is this how Luc Besson looks at the American foreign policy?
Am I completely off on this? Do you think they are making fun of a certain stereotype?
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