We've gone on record in the past as to how baffled we are that "Taken," a borderline-racist B-movie that would have been best-suited to being a direct-to-video action movie starring Patrick Bergin in the mid-90s, is such a beloved box-office hit in some quarters. But we were slowly coming to terms with the fact that it's simply something that we'll never come to understand, like the mysteries of the cosmos, or the iTunes Terms & Conditions. And just as that was happening, Liam Neeson's schedule was worked out, and a sequel to the 2009 surprise hit was greenlit, with the amazingly-named Olivier Megaton helmer of "The Transporter 3" and "Columbiana" in the director's chair, with original writers Luc Besson and Robert Mark Kamen returning with another script.
And it sounds like they're keen to make us shake our heads in disbelief just as much the second time around. The plot involves ex-spy Brian Mills and his wife (Neeson and Famke Janssen) vacationing to Istanbul, where they're kidnapped by the father of one of the men he killed in the original (Rade Serbedzija), and, in a "cunning" reversal of the events of the first film, has to enlist the help of his daughter (Maggie Grace). Because, obviously, the thing that everyone loved about the first film was Maggie Fucking Grace. It's like if "Die Hard 2" had been led by Reginald VelJohnson.
But the character, who let's not forget, was a vacuous fame-seeking "American Idol" wannabe in the original, won't be alone. Variety report that rising star Luke Grimes, best known for the TV series "Brothers & Sisters," has signed on to play Grace's love interest, who gets involved in the rescue attempt, presumably winning the approval of his prospective father-in-law by punching a few swarthy foreigners in the throat.
Grimes first appeared in Jonathan Levine's lost-in-distribution-hell horror flick "All The Boys Love Mandy Lane," has a major role in the FX pilot "Outlaw Country," and was mentioned only a few days ago as being in the running for the lead role in Roland Emmerich's "Singularity," so clearly he's someone that casting directors are high on. We'll find out what his chops are like when "Taken 2" opens on October 5th, 2012.