Taken (2008 - 2015)

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  • 0BradyM0Bondfanatic70BradyM0Bondfanatic7 Quantum Floral Arrangements: "We Have Petals Everywhere"
    edited October 2012 Posts: 28,694
    I don't get why people think bad reviews=bad box office. Transformers manages to make money year after year.
    I agree. And because of that, Michael Bay will plague the once honorable profession of directors.

    I used to like Micheal Bay. I really enjoyed Bad Boys and The Rock, and I thought he was a skilled action director. But crap like Pearl Harbour and Transformers has really made me dislike him. I don't think he'll ever do a film now that isn't overloaded with CGI.

    Well heavens no. That would require an actual talent for composing a shot, something he will never have. Orson Welles and Michael Curtiz for example knew how to compose a shot in new and inventive ways. Using light to emote powerful images and feelings from off the screen. As a result, Citizen Kane and Casablanca are two of the most beautiful films we will ever see, the latter I find to be the prettiest ever filmed, and that helps Charles Kane and Rick Blaine to become two of the most compelling characters in film. Michael takes a film and ruins the composition with explosions and gunfire, leaving room for only one dimensional characters and no emotions or characterization through visual means. Being a good director of action means nothing if I don't care about what is happening on-screen. That is his fatal flaw, because I will never care about anything he "directs", and I use that term loosely.
  • Posts: 12,526
    Seriously thinking about waiting for a dvd release on this one now?
  • 0BradyM0Bondfanatic70BradyM0Bondfanatic7 Quantum Floral Arrangements: "We Have Petals Everywhere"
    Posts: 28,694
    RogueAgent wrote:
    Seriously thinking about waiting for a dvd release on this one now?

    That is what I'm thinking. With Argo and The Master coming up, I'd rather spend money on those.
  • Posts: 12,526
    RogueAgent wrote:
    Seriously thinking about waiting for a dvd release on this one now?

    That is what I'm thinking. With Argo and The Master coming up, I'd rather spend money on those.

    Especially with how expensive it nowadays to go to the cinema! :-O
  • Creasy47Creasy47 In Cuba with Natalya.Moderator
    Posts: 40,959
    Both Neeson and Besson have confirmed that there won't be a sequel. They shouldn't have done one in the first place.
  • DRESSED_TO_KILLDRESSED_TO_KILL Suspended
    Posts: 260
    TAKEN 2 looks retarded, they are milking it for the money , it looks like all this film has to offer is unrealistic action, big cheesy stunts and a over-exaggerated plot..i'll pass on this mainstream thrash
  • TAKEN 2 looks retarded, they are milking it for the money , it looks like all this film has to offer is unrealistic action, big cheesy stunts and a over-exaggerated plot..i'll pass on this mainstream thrash

    You really sound like @TouchMyButtons :-?
  • Creasy47Creasy47 In Cuba with Natalya.Moderator
    edited October 2012 Posts: 40,959
    TAKEN 2 looks retarded, they are milking it for the money , it looks like all this film has to offer is unrealistic action, big cheesy stunts and a over-exaggerated plot..i'll pass on this mainstream thrash

    You really sound like @TouchMyButtons :-?

    ;)

    As much as I wasn't crazy about the camera work or action, the film wasn't THAT bad.

    @DRESSED_TO_KILL, no need to call it 'retarded,' that's a little too far and it's a poor choice of a word.
  • Gotta go watch it on movie theater this week!!! is it still up on it?
  • Creasy47Creasy47 In Cuba with Natalya.Moderator
    Posts: 40,959
    ril3ydx wrote:
    Gotta go watch it on movie theater this week!!! is it still up on it?

    More than likely, but I suppose it depends on your locale. The local theaters around my area are still playing it, but it's likely to be out relatively soon.
  • ril3ydx wrote:
    Gotta go watch it on movie theater this week!!! is it still up on it?

    They're still showing it where I live.
  • Posts: 1
    skyfall and taken 2 had the same chasing scene on the rooftop of Istanbul.. :D
  • Creasy47Creasy47 In Cuba with Natalya.Moderator
    Posts: 40,959
    eure wrote:
    skyfall and taken 2 had the same chasing scene on the rooftop of Istanbul.. :D

    I don't recall any dirt bikes in the rooftop chase scene in 'Taken 2,' just some bad CGI explosions.
  • 0BradyM0Bondfanatic70BradyM0Bondfanatic7 Quantum Floral Arrangements: "We Have Petals Everywhere"
    Posts: 28,694
    taken-2-and-skyfall-shot-in-same-location1.jpg

    :-\"
  • doubleoegodoubleoego #LightWork
    Posts: 11,139
    Taken 2 was such a waste of time.
  • Posts: 12,526
    /\ still not seen it?
  • Posts: 5,745
    I heavily enjoyed it. I expected it to be more of the first, and that's what I got. A little less kinetic, and and little more OTT, but it is a sequel. I'll buy it soon.
  • I enjoyed it very much. I just got the Blu-ray Unrated Cut, with some cool extras, deleted scenes, and an alternate ending which is more like the alternate last 25 minutes. There was a huge change.
  • Samuel001Samuel001 Moderator
    Posts: 13,355
    For better or worse @PositiveTouch?
  • edited January 2013 Posts: 12,837
    I enjoyed it. Like the Bourne Legacy, I think some people got their hopes up too high. I went in expecting a fun action flick and that's what I got. Not as good as the first but that doesn't matter, I didn't expect it to be. It was still an entertaining film, even if it didn't really need to be made.

    I quite liked the ending we got. It was badass when he revealed that he'd taken the bullets.
    Creasy47 wrote:
    eure wrote:
    skyfall and taken 2 had the same chasing scene on the rooftop of Istanbul.. :D

    I don't recall any dirt bikes in the rooftop chase scene in 'Taken 2,' just some bad CGI explosions.

    I haven't seen it for a while but I don't remember anything at all being wrong with the CGI.
  • Creasy47Creasy47 In Cuba with Natalya.Moderator
    Posts: 40,959
    My biggest problem with the film was the editing. I liked the scope of what they did and where they took the sequel, but wow, was that editing bad. Maybe I just need to watch it again, because I remember there being two or three different angle cuts for every punch thrown, and it was impossible to tell what was going on.
  • Samuel001 wrote:
    For better or worse @PositiveTouch?

    I can only speak for myself, and I think the alternate ending makes it just a bit better, adds a bit more of the ruthless side of Bryan that we saw in the first Taken. It's at the expense of the obligatory "race against time final stretch" climax like Taken 1. The actual "ending" ending remains the same, just the circumstances were originally different from the part where Bry goes back for Lenore, a longer car chase, longer embassy scene, longer footchase.

    For those who don't care about waiting to watch it themselves:
    The difference is this: Bryan gets Lennie back immediately before the car chase, and she navigates from the back, then they crash into the embassy, Bry calls his friends, a little more humorous banter, then some gov't guy comes to the cab and speaks with Bry, who leaves, telling Lenore he's going to "finish this". He retraces his kidnapping as per the theatrical cut, then tracks the bad guys down, with a longer footchase through Istanbul, to the bathouse climax, which is unchanged minus Lenore being a captive.

  • Samuel001Samuel001 Moderator
    edited January 2013 Posts: 13,355
    It certainly sounds like an improvement, thanks for sharing. I wonder what the decision to change it was?
  • What ever they do I'm looking forward to these now more than the next Bond film...
  • Creasy47Creasy47 In Cuba with Natalya.Moderator
    Posts: 40,959
    I took a look at some of the fight scenes from a home video (err, online) version of the film, and yep, that editing is abysmal, just like Neeson's fight scenes in 'Unknown.' I just cannot tell what is going on in the fights.
  • Agreed...a little too much Bourne identity. When will they learn shakier cams and quicker cuts don't equal better action. Maybe they should release a less shaky choppy version as well.
  • taken-2-and-skyfall-shot-in-same-location1.jpg

    :-\"

    Yeah this location is getting overused....

  • 0BradyM0Bondfanatic70BradyM0Bondfanatic7 Quantum Floral Arrangements: "We Have Petals Everywhere"
    Posts: 28,694
    Creasy47 wrote:
    I took a look at some of the fight scenes from a home video (err, online) version of the film, and yep, that editing is abysmal, just like Neeson's fight scenes in 'Unknown.' I just cannot tell what is going on in the fights.

    That's how I felt during "The Expendables", and it was dark and hard to see most of the time in addition. Hopefully #2 is better in that regard. More of it seems to take place in daylight, so that's an improvement already.
  • Creasy47Creasy47 In Cuba with Natalya.Moderator
    Posts: 40,959
    Creasy47 wrote:
    I took a look at some of the fight scenes from a home video (err, online) version of the film, and yep, that editing is abysmal, just like Neeson's fight scenes in 'Unknown.' I just cannot tell what is going on in the fights.

    That's how I felt during "The Expendables", and it was dark and hard to see most of the time in addition. Hopefully #2 is better in that regard. More of it seems to take place in daylight, so that's an improvement already.

    Haven't seen 'The Expendables' in quite some time, so I can't agree/disagree with you there, but @agent006 is right: shaky cam isn't ALWAYS bad - whatever you consider the Bond vs. Slate fight in QoS was perfection for me - but this one-punch-per-five-camera-angle-cuts deal is driving me insane and keeps me incredibly confused.
  • 0BradyM0Bondfanatic70BradyM0Bondfanatic7 Quantum Floral Arrangements: "We Have Petals Everywhere"
    Posts: 28,694
    Creasy47 wrote:
    Creasy47 wrote:
    I took a look at some of the fight scenes from a home video (err, online) version of the film, and yep, that editing is abysmal, just like Neeson's fight scenes in 'Unknown.' I just cannot tell what is going on in the fights.

    That's how I felt during "The Expendables", and it was dark and hard to see most of the time in addition. Hopefully #2 is better in that regard. More of it seems to take place in daylight, so that's an improvement already.

    Haven't seen 'The Expendables' in quite some time, so I can't agree/disagree with you there, but @agent006 is right: shaky cam isn't ALWAYS bad - whatever you consider the Bond vs. Slate fight in QoS was perfection for me - but this one-punch-per-five-camera-angle-cuts deal is driving me insane and keeps me incredibly confused.

    Yeah, at least in QoS the frantic editing matched the brutal nature and rough ballet of the scrap up.
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