Review of Taken 3 (2014) by Diogomendes — 24 Jan 2015

Redundancy is strong in "Taken 3", an unneeded sequel of the unneeded sequel that while contains a few moments performed by Liam Neeson and Forest Whitaker worth watching, its plot is banal and the action sequences are too frenetically edited to provoke excitement. Some people say that it's better than the second film. Well, that's no large feat. The previous movie sucked, and this one is not an exception.

Liam Neeson returns as ex-covert operative Bryan Mills, whose long awaited reconciliation with his ex-wife is tragically cut short when she is brutally murdered. Consumed with rage, and framed for the crime, he goes on the run to evade the relentless pursuit of the CIA, FBI and the police. For one last time, Mills must use his "particular set of skills," to track down the real killers, exact his unique brand of justice, and protect the only thing that matters to him now - his daughter.

Now, the movie opens with some armed guys who work for this veteran operative named Oleg Malankov, basically a generic antagonist whose plan is absurd. After Lenore's husband kills her, Bryan Mills does what he is best at: Goes after them, while also escaping from the cops. The action, just like in the second movie, sucks. Shaky cameras, quick zoom-in and cuts... it's bad and hurt my eyes just by seeing them. Olivier Megaton clearly doesn't understand what made the original Taken a hit. As for the actors, they're fine. Can't say they did "an extraordinary" job, but they were okay. Liam Neeson's presence prevents myself from giving a much lower score than this and I like Forest's performance. In fact, I love him as an actor.

One thing I don't understand is that the police thinks Bryan murdered his ex-wife Lenore, but they don't know he risked his whole life to save her in the previous film (not to mention, he f*cking killed hundreds of people and travelled far to save his daughter in the first film). And suddenly, Stuart is part of some illegal business with a dangerous veteran... whatever.

"Taken 3" reminds me of "The Next Karate Kid" and "A Good Day to Die Hard", it shouldn't have been made. It shouldn't have been a franchise. It's an obvious cash grab that offers little to the movies aficionado. If you're going to make a movie that serves only to generate cash, at least do it right. Stop wasting audience's time, for God's sake.

Final Score to Tak3n (God the title is so dumb): 3/10. It was a little enjoyable, but it's diminished by its moronic script, terrible direction and bad action scenes, even if Liam Neeson and the rest of the cast gave everything to make this movie right.

(Hey, at least the movie wasn't Transformers: Age of Extinction).