Taken was the surprise hit of 2009 as audiences bought into Liam Neeson as the baddest of badasses. One would rarely think of him as an action-thriller hero. He’s done tough guy, man of action roles in the past but they tended to be of the mentor types. It was the Luc Besson-produced Taken that first made Neeson as a believable action hero.

The film was a simple enough revenge fare. One would thnk that the film’s ending was closure enough that a sequel wasn’t needed, but Hollywood won’t have none of that. It took a year or so, but soon enough 20th Century Fox purchased the rights to the sequel to Taken and quickly greenlit the project.

It’s now 2012 and Neeson’s former CIA black ops character, Bryan Mills, is back to do what he does best and that’s kill, torture and main (not in that particular order every time) every gangster and criminal who gets in his way as he tries to save not just his daughter (again), but his ex-wife as well as they vacation in that hotbed of spying and intrigue,

Istanbul. Luc Leterrier is not helming the sequel but another Besson protege in Olivier Megaton. Now with a name such as Megaton one should expect some explosive action and the trailer hints at such. Here’s to hoping that the film doesn’t go too overboard with the killing and maiming and torturing (again not in that order when they occur each and everytime).

Taken 2 is set for an October 5, 2012 release date.