Review of Taken 3 (2014) by Patrick L — 19 Aug 2015

"Nobody gets taken in this movie. Listen to me very carefully moviegoers, your $12.00 and 109 minutes of your life will be taken instead".

Movie Review: Taken 3.

Date Viewed: January 10 2015.

Directed By Olivier Megaton (Transporter 3 and Taken 2).

Written By Luc Besson and Robert Mark Kamen, Based on characters created by Luc Besson and Robert Mark Kamen.

Starring: Liam Neeson, Forest Whitaker, Maggie Grace, Famke Janssen, Dougray Scott, Sam Spruell, Leland Orser, Jon Gries,.

Dylan Bruno and Jonny Weston.

Nobody gets taken in "Taken 3", this time it's just the audience. Everybody wants to see Liam Neeson kick some ass but has anyone ever told him, "Don't you think you're getting too old for this shit". "Taken 3" is an early candidate for one of the worst movies of 2015. Somehow, the filmmakers managed to drag in Oscar Winner Forest Whitaker to play a detective who is always two steps behind Neeson. Despite great reviews, moviegoers didn't want to see Keanu Reeves back in action as "John Wick", they were waiting to see Neeson back in action as retired CIA operative Bryan Mills.

Bryan Mills (Neeson) doesn't have to rescue his daughter or his wife from drug traffickers or mobsters in a foreign country any more, he is now on the run. Why? Because the police think he was responsible for the murder of his wife, Lenore (Famke Janssen). Mills is consumed with rage and he goes on a killing rampage in order to find out who killed his wife. The key suspects are Lenore's new husband, Stuart St. John (Dougray Scott) who is always away on business and a Russian baddie named Oleg (Sam Spruell).

At the same time, Bryan's daughter, Kim (Maggie Grace) is pregnant with her boyfriend's baby and she doesn't want to tell her father because she doesn't think that he will be ready to be a grandpa.

Investigating the case is Inspector Franck Dotzler (Forest Whitaker), he is a man who loves to carry around a chess piece, snap rubber bands and eat evidence at crime scenes. Mills will do everything in his power to clear his name, even if it means destroying about a mile long stretch of highway, surviving two car crashes, assaulting several police officers and illegally downloading police files. "Taken 3" is one of the most poorly edited action movies I've seen in a long time. In one scene, there is a foot chase involving Bryan and several LAPD officers, the problem with this scene is that you can't tell if it is Neeson or his stunt double.

In the first "Taken" movie, we actually believed Neeson's well-trained character because he used to work for the CIA. In "Taken 3" however, Bryan Mills has been transformed into an unstoppable Terminator.

Okay Bryan, you have been framed for murder so instead of cooperating with the authorities you just assault officers, kill Russian mobsters and destroy a mile of highway. Oh wait, there's more, he also manages to dodge hundreds of bullets and survive two massive explosions. After the first "Taken" became a massive success at the box office, Neeson launched himself as an action star and he went on to do more movies. Sure, some of them were major dogs ("Battleship", "The Nut Job", "Clash of the Titans" and "Wrath of the Titans") but he managed to star in some great gems. He was terrific as a conflicted man who fought against a pack of wolves in "The Grey" and he did great voice work as Bad Cop/Good Cop in "The LEGO Movie".

The tagline on the poster says "It Ends Here" and I hope this series comes to an end because the "Taken" sequels haven't done Neeson any favors. For "Taken 3", Neeson received a big $20 million payday. I hope he got paid well because he is surrounded in a silly action thriller that has no payoff. Director Olivier Megaton (Colombiana, Transporter 3 and Taken 2) has a mega problem, he can't direct action. With poor action and a ridiculous screenplay by Luc Besson and Robert Mark Kamen, "Taken 3" really proves that the only two things being taken away from you are $12.00 and 109 minutes of your life.