Bonesnap

It's not often a film manages to be entertaining AND thought provoking, but this inventive and clever film manages to do just that.

Others have talked about how clever the plot is, so I'll instead say that the script is razor sharp and the small cast are all very convincing. It is low budget, but, nonetheless, the production is very convincing. The sound, cinematography and music are all excellent.

This film left a lasting impression left on me, and just like it says on the poster, in the following days after seeing it I thought about it quite a bit.

At the end when Cherry is dancing around the room, I really enjoyed her spontaneity and freedom of movement, and for a split-second, she reminded me of Louise Lecavalier, the Canadian dancer, and I laughed with joy and admiration for this little gem of a film. I surprised myself by bursting into applause like people occasionally do at the cinema when they've seen something truly outstanding, except I was sitting alone in my darkened living room, wishing I could have shared the experience with someone.

This film was SO much more than I expected. Highly recommended.

This is a serviceable sequel let down by mediocre writing that missed a perfect opportunity for Neeson to make a comment on his daughter's driving after she led multiple police cars and a couple of bad-guy cars on a high-speed chase around Istanbul. Given passing her driving test was literally the top and tail of the entire movie, you'd think the writer would have the wits to put a tension-relieving little joke after she crashes the car into the courtyard of the US Embassy. But, alas, there was nothing.

The main disappointment for me was the inexplicably fast jump-cut editing in every single fight sequence in the film. The final fight goes on for about roughly 90 seconds, during which it cut to a different shot more than once per second. As a result, the fight scenes had no flow and were at times confusing. As a directorial choice, it just didn't make sense.

And let's be honest, in the first film the sequences of Neeson dismantling one bad guy after another is what made it such a success. To me the editing of the fight scenes in Taken 2 ruined what would otherwise have been an above average, fun movie.

Look, I get it, many reviewers here have legitimate criticisms of this film and I'm not here to say they're necessarily wrong. Maybe a little bit heavy-handed at times, imo, but my experience was a little bit more positive.

I always struggled with the Insidious series of films because Patrick Wilson was also in The Conjuring films, and thematically, at least, they're very similar. So, I'd always be thinking, 'Is this the one with...?', and so on. Anyway...

So, I like the characters. Dalton was suitably dark and tortured, while his roomie Chris was fun and had good dialogue, and she was actually useful to the story, rather than the typical college sidekick who gets bumped off in the second act. Yes, a couple of the jump-scares got my arm hair standing on end. Not the kind of thing that usually bothers me but, 'ha-ha, yup, you got me there...!'

I liked that the film had a positive, upbeat ending. Call me crazy but I was relieved when there were no last-minute jump scares, although I was certainly waiting for them. That's almost counterculture for modern horror movies.

When the credits rolled and I heard the song being played, I was instantly taken back to my 20s. Who sang that originally? Oh, yes, Shakespeares Sister, 'Stay'. What a brilliant song, and a very good cover too! If you listen to the lyrics, it's as if it was written especially for this film, they fit so perfectly. Bravo. Well done, there. Although, given the way this story unfurled, I wouldn't have been surprised if the end-credit song was that old 60s Rolling Stones' number, the one that goes, 'I see a Red Door and I want it Painted Black...'