My wife and I enjoyed TAKEN and thought this might be a good thriller, so we saw it last night. We both thought the trailer looked great and the cast was excellent.
Wow, were we disappointed. And so was the audience (packed house). Based on the clever marketing that made it seem like another TAKEN, I'm sure it's going to open strong this weekend, but word of mouth is really going to hurt it in the long run.
SPOILERS
Going into it, we thought we'd be rooting for Liam Neeson's character, as we did in TAKEN. But it turns out in this one that Neeson's character --along with January Jones who played his wife -- were assassins. In a car accident at the beginning of the film, Neeson was hit in the head and forgot that he was an assassin. So it turned out to be a bit like BOURNE. But it didn't play like BOURNE. And this revelation/plot point really killed the audience's sympathy for Neeson (unlike it did with Bourne). Yes, Neeson decided to work against his team in the end, but it came across as ridiculous and contrived. On the way out of the theater, we heard lots of people saying the same thing. It's a real shame, because Neeson is good and the premise had potential, but this twist ruined the movie.
Wow, were we disappointed. And so was the audience (packed house). Based on the clever marketing that made it seem like another TAKEN, I'm sure it's going to open strong this weekend, but word of mouth is really going to hurt it in the long run.
SPOILERS
Going into it, we thought we'd be rooting for Liam Neeson's character, as we did in TAKEN. But it turns out in this one that Neeson's character --along with January Jones who played his wife -- were assassins. In a car accident at the beginning of the film, Neeson was hit in the head and forgot that he was an assassin. So it turned out to be a bit like BOURNE. But it didn't play like BOURNE. And this revelation/plot point really killed the audience's sympathy for Neeson (unlike it did with Bourne). Yes, Neeson decided to work against his team in the end, but it came across as ridiculous and contrived. On the way out of the theater, we heard lots of people saying the same thing. It's a real shame, because Neeson is good and the premise had potential, but this twist ruined the movie.
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