I don't think there has been a dip in quality quite like the Taken franchise. The original was a satisfying and fun little thriller, but lightning didn't strike twice with the sequel being a tired re-hash, stinking with the stench of a cash-in. On top of that, Liam Neeson's aging bad ass shtick was already beginning to wear thin by Taken 2. That brings us to the third installment. Can it claw back some credibility for the franchise and actor? Short answer: no. No, it can't.
At least returning director Oliver Megaton is shaking things up a bit, this time foregoing the European location, and setting all the action in Los Angeles. But that's really the only thing that seems to have changed for this third installment, with Neeson's ex-CIA agent Bryan Mill's using his particular set of skills to keep his daughter Kim safe (Maggie Grace), even as he is pursued by the authorities, led by Inspecter Dotzler (Forrest Whitaker) after being framed for the murder of his ex-wife Lenore (Famke Janssen).
The biggest crime Taken 3 commits, besides the nonsensical plot, overly edited action sequences, and just down right stupid characters, is that it is just boring. The first act is an incredibly dull affair, with far too much time spent on Mill's family life, setting up plot beats and twists that can be seen from space, and featuring a disturbingly happy Bryan Mills that is so sickly sweet that you swear candy floss now runs through his veins. Say what you will about them, you watch a Taken movie for the action and 'thrills', and spending close to half an hour on totally un-needed set up is not the way to go. When the story does decide to get going, it just stops and starts, with huge swaths of the movie seeing nothing actually happen. The action does see things pick up slightly, but besides a second act car chase that makes you sit up and take notice for a moment, everything is edited to the point of being incomprehensible, robbing the movie of anything approaching interesting. The story, written again by Luc Besson and Robert Mark Kamen, does try, but as it rushes towards the finale, it begins to try far too hard, sending the story into some eye-rollingly bad territory .
Neeson isn't even trying anymore. Here, Mills is devoid of any sort of emotion (unless you count that goofy grin plastered across his face for the entire first act), just switching between pissed off and slightly more pissed off. Thinking about it, this pretty much how he approached the character in previous installments. The supporting cast aren't even worth talking about. Only Whitaker, who is always reliable, shows any sort of promise, but you soon realised he is just slumming it as the dogged FBI agent who is far too enamoured by his quarry, and his strange interest in bagels, and the conclusion he jumps to at the end thanks to them, is the movie at it's most laughable.
Taken 2 clued us into the fact that there was no life in the premise following the original. Taken 3 hammers that home with no degree of uncertainty. Avoid at all costs!!
At least returning director Oliver Megaton is shaking things up a bit, this time foregoing the European location, and setting all the action in Los Angeles. But that's really the only thing that seems to have changed for this third installment, with Neeson's ex-CIA agent Bryan Mill's using his particular set of skills to keep his daughter Kim safe (Maggie Grace), even as he is pursued by the authorities, led by Inspecter Dotzler (Forrest Whitaker) after being framed for the murder of his ex-wife Lenore (Famke Janssen).
The biggest crime Taken 3 commits, besides the nonsensical plot, overly edited action sequences, and just down right stupid characters, is that it is just boring. The first act is an incredibly dull affair, with far too much time spent on Mill's family life, setting up plot beats and twists that can be seen from space, and featuring a disturbingly happy Bryan Mills that is so sickly sweet that you swear candy floss now runs through his veins. Say what you will about them, you watch a Taken movie for the action and 'thrills', and spending close to half an hour on totally un-needed set up is not the way to go. When the story does decide to get going, it just stops and starts, with huge swaths of the movie seeing nothing actually happen. The action does see things pick up slightly, but besides a second act car chase that makes you sit up and take notice for a moment, everything is edited to the point of being incomprehensible, robbing the movie of anything approaching interesting. The story, written again by Luc Besson and Robert Mark Kamen, does try, but as it rushes towards the finale, it begins to try far too hard, sending the story into some eye-rollingly bad territory .
Neeson isn't even trying anymore. Here, Mills is devoid of any sort of emotion (unless you count that goofy grin plastered across his face for the entire first act), just switching between pissed off and slightly more pissed off. Thinking about it, this pretty much how he approached the character in previous installments. The supporting cast aren't even worth talking about. Only Whitaker, who is always reliable, shows any sort of promise, but you soon realised he is just slumming it as the dogged FBI agent who is far too enamoured by his quarry, and his strange interest in bagels, and the conclusion he jumps to at the end thanks to them, is the movie at it's most laughable.
Taken 2 clued us into the fact that there was no life in the premise following the original. Taken 3 hammers that home with no degree of uncertainty. Avoid at all costs!!
