I don't even remember the kidnappers being Muslim in the first film
Then maybe you should have paid attention given that their Islamic tatoo was a crucial point in Liam tracking them down.
Like AS IF these kidnapping brothel running rapists would give a damn about praying and religion.
Given that the most atrocious war currently going on is directly the result of a group of people giving too much of a damn about their religion - yes.
Then they go to Turkey and you hear the call to prayer and it's like some kind of ominous warning of what's to come. I dunno if any of you guys have heard the call to prayer in a Muslim country but let me tell you, it's beautiful. I bet even the most ignorant Islamophobes would be a little bit moved by it. It's not scary.
Ive been to turkey and call to prayer is heard pretty much everywhere quite often. Its YOU who associated it with bad. I dont agree with it being beautiful, more like annoying. but thats just my opinion.
And THEN, omg, what was with all the face-covering Turkish women? Seriously.. in Turkey? Anyone been to Turkey? Anyone?
It happens. ive seen plenty of them walking around when i was in Turkey. Also Turkey women fought tooth and nail for the right to use them while at university classes even.
And they're staring back at her with an empty look in their eyes.. What was that trying to imply?
I understood it as locals knowing better than to interfere with mafia lest they get killed. clearly your interpretation was more sinister.
Please tell me, am I being crazy? Am I too sensitive?
Im afraid the diagnosis is crazy.
Applied Science? All science is applied. Eventually.

Agree, the film did feel Islamophobic.

this is not a hollywood movie. its a french movie

Nah. The depiction of Muslims seem reasonable and not far-fetched for me.

The thing that just got to me was the depictions of Turkey and Muslims, which was silly and covertly (or maybe overtly?) racist..
Is Muslim a race now?

I would have to disagree!! Women kidnapped by sex-traffickers is a very painful butt realistic thing that goes on in the world. his friend jean Claude was right when he said that people from 3rd world countries see democaracies has somthing to be exploited!!
Thank You
erikbeale@yahoo.com

Yes yes it is xenophobic to have a film about a real phenomenon. Seems muslim's don't like owning their own issues.

I just feel like Hollywood presumes their whole audience is white, American and Western.
Well, let them have an all-white audience. No need to support xenophobic Western entertainment industry by watching their stupid xenophobic action films.
Come on, what did you actually expect from a film like Taken 2? Did you expect something like Malcolm X? Battle of Algiers? Land and Freedom?

Albanians and Turks are White to me.I love the Palestinians and all Arabs.
The jews are to be ignored,they are evil..but at least they are White.
I love ALL Berbers and the Janjaweed are brave.I am an Irish-American Catholic..beware of blacks.Can the Janjaweed stop the South African blacks from murdering,raping little White babies on Afrikaner farms.American leaders are evil
I like Liam Neeson so..
In America gangs of cowardly blacks have been killing White people for 50 years and getting away with it..BUT the Superior Whites and Arabs are organized
so the war will come.

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You are not being crazy neither too sensitive.
There's all kind of bad persons. I know christians, Muslim etc.
The religion is not the problem, is what the persons do with religion that is the problem.
I saw so many movie with bad white men !!!! white christian serial killers !!!!
I saw a couple of black oriented movies that was making fun of white and I'm the first to say that their was some good joke in there I'm not angry about it.
Its not outrageous at all. It's life. That's all.
Sometime I think that some persons of some religions and or races that it too personal, stop acting like victims and the world owes you
We are all representative of our race, religion, colors whatever else.
If I was a black person acting like the cliche suggested by the society I would be a shame to my race because I would encourage these cliche.
As I'm ashamed of my race when I see a racist redneck saying racist stuff.

This movie revealed us that nothing has changed about American way of viewing the other parts of the world.
Unfortunatelly, Most of them are still ignorant as hell.

"The thing that just got to me was the depictions of Turkey and Muslims, which was silly and covertly (or maybe overtly?) racist."
Oh dear. Oh my!
I do believe you need to travel more, or learn about the world by reading books.
The majority of Turks are Muslim going back to before the Ottoman Empire, for only about 550 years. Didn't you get the memo?
Depicting the women dressed as muslim is racist? How does that work?
"I don't even remember the kidnappers being Muslim in the first film "
They're from Albania for Pete's sake. What did you expect them to be? Baptist?
Bad guys from Albania are most likely to be muslim, but I gather you would rather they be clearly labelled as rampaging Catholics killing for kicks just so that your distorted, garbled view of who is good and who his bad can be true.
Do try and read up on the Middle East so that you can understand that the medieval cult has been in the killing business for centuries. To not depict that accurately as a favoured muslim pastime would be deliberately misleading - a lie.

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Although I don't think the bad guys were depicted as very religious (they openly discussed a murder plot at a funeral) there certainly is a strongly xenophobic slant to the movie.
The only people who witness or take action about anything are European. All the locals just watch events unfold and don't really react to anything. I got the impression that the woman ignoring Famke's call for help simply didn't understand what she was saying, but in general throughout the film there's no real reaction from anyone except the cop chase scene (after police had been conspicuously absent for an unreasonable passage of time with grenades going off etc.).
"I'll book you. I'll book you on something. I'll find something in the book to book you on."

My comments did make sense.
I was replying to a bigot who has form in making anti muslim comments all over the IMDB.
Its that man again!!

You should youself make sense of your comment before commenting again.

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Xenophobic? It's the truth! The West has become far too soft due to its welfare state and many from the third world take advantage of its system and the situation is getting worse day by day. Nobody is saying all nations are like that. Nobody is saying all Turkey is like that, but a lot of criminals who are hardened by the brutal police culture of these countries have a free run in the West. That is what the movie depicted. And yes, you are crazy.

Your uninformed sanctimony is as repugnant now as it was in February. Have you ever read a history book?
Islam was founded by a mass-murdering child rapist. Since then it has unleashed untold suffering and misery on the peoples it has conquered by its "submit or die" ethos. Don't believe me? EVERY Muslim majority society today is marked by violence, oppression, slavery (as in the movie), bigotry and rampant corruption. EVERY ONE!
It's no more "xenophobic" to depict such a crede as evil than it is to depict Nazism or Stalinism as evil. I suggest you educate yourself before parading your ignorance.

Given how xenophobic the original Taken was, I doubt the sequel was going to be any less. We have a plot where after a Muslim funeral, the father of one of the victims who made a living from kidnapping young women and selling them to sex slavery talking about gaining revenge on the person who killed them all with a straight face.
Its that man again!!

Why does everything have to come down to a race/creed/religious issue?
Because otherwise those moral crusaders have to admit that there exists such thing as Nuance and they are not always right. and they will rather cut the nose to spite the face than do that.
Applied Science? All science is applied. Eventually.

Why does everything have to come down to a race/creed/religious issue?
Going by that logic, the race card could be played in regards to most movies.
Oh look, that white guy just shot someone in that movie, just what is the director trying to imply here? How racist.
Oh no, those Albanians just kidnapped someone in that movie.. that has to be bordering on racism if they are being portrayed that way.
Whatever happened to just appreciating a movie for what it is? A movie.
Instead of picking it apart and finding something that isn't there.
We're at a stage where politically correctness has gone mad.
Oh, and this isn't an attack on the OP or anyone else in this thread, it's more of a general post as i've noticed things like this alot on IMDB.
I don't pick movies apart and notice certain races of people being portrayed in a certain way and then consider it to be racist, so why do you?
We've all seen movies where people of every race have been both the good guys and the bad guys. Are they racist? No! (unless you choose to make it that way).