Any good action movie ends with a pretty high body count of nameless bad guys racked up by the hero, and the first “Taken” with Liam Neeson was no exception. However, unlike most action sequels, “Taken 2” doesn’t disregard that death toll; it brings it to the forefront by giving those baddies families and friends who are angry and ready for vengeance.

“Taken 2” begins with a montage of Brian Mills’ (Neeson) attack on the men who kidnapped his daughter in the first film, intercut with scenes showing them being transported home and buried by weeping family members. Among the mourners is Murad Hoxha (Rade Šerbedžija), the father of Marko Hoxha, recipient of Mills’ famous speech from the first film whom Mills tortures and electrocutes to death. Hoxha vows revenge against Mills, setting the stage for this much-anticipated sequel.

Meanwhile, Mills is still trying to be a good father by helping his daughter Kim (Maggie Grace) pass her driving test. When he finds out that Lenore (Famke Janssen) is having troubles with her now ex-husband, he invites both her and Kim to take a vacation in Istanbul with him after he’s finished a job there. Unfortunately for all three, this places the entire family firmly in the crosshairs of Hoxha, and he enacts his plan, managing to capture Mills and Lenore, but missing Kim, who is now placed in a reverse role as she works to find and free her parents with help from father over the phone.

Neeson reminds us once again why we keep coming back to see him. While he’s not tossing out one-liners and blowing up everything in sight, he still plays a perfect action hero in his own way. Even when he’s been kidnapped and tossed into the back of a van, Mills remains calm and in control, planning his next several moves well in advance.

Much like the first film, Neeson leaves a trail of bodies in his wake, but the violence isn’t splashy or over-the-top. Like Neeson himself, it’s understated, yet still satisfying to audiences looking for an action fix. There are some really cool fights over the course of the film, and we get to see the spy skills that made Mills an instant badass in the first film.

The villains themselves are well done, especially Hoxha. Šerbedžija plays his role perfectly as both a grieving father and as a dangerous criminal. At first, we can almost feel for him as he seeks vengeance for the death of his son, but as the story progresses, we realize that, grieving father or not, this man is just as evil as his son was, and it adds a fresh dimension to the film. That being said, every other bad guy in the film seems like a stock character pulled from an old cartoon warehouse.

This film requires a pretty hefty amount of suspension of disbelief, but movie-goers actually looking to have a good time will have no trouble with it.

Director Olivier Megaton has managed to bring us a sequel that, while not quite on the level of its predecessor, manages to be relevant and interesting, as well as just plain fun to watch.

3 out of 5 stars.