Taken 3 (2015): *

‘I’m just tired of it all’ bemoaned Bryan Mills, played by Liam Neeson, towards the end of Taken 2 (2012), a sentiment shared by the many in the audience and Neeson himself – who stated in an interview with Empire in 2012 that it was highly unlikely there would be a Taken 3. Yet, here it is and it shares many of the problems of its predecessor Taken 2. This time around the plot is not sparked off by a kidnapping, but rather with the murder of Bryan’s ex-wife Lenore (Famke Janssen), left in his apartment to incriminate him. Bryan sets out to prove his innocence to the police, avenge Lenore and keep his daughter Kim (Maggie Grace) safe. 

Action aficionadas will be seriously disappointed with the action on display in Taken 3, that is, if you can discern it in any matter. Director Olivier Megaton uses rapid-fire cutting in his action sequences, to try to create a sense of frantic action. However, the action movements and space is so distorted, it confuses rather than enthrals the audience. The editing seems to be employed as a way of reducing the amount of actual fighting onscreen and attempting to disguise the mundaneness of the action.

Liam Neeson seems to be sleepwalking through it all, delivering his speeches over the phone half-heartedly. Kim has barely developed over the course of this franchise and Maggie Grace can’t do much with such slim pickings. Stuart St John (Dougary Scott) is completely over the top as the smarmy, obnoxious millionaire husband of Lenore. Forest Whitaker tries to bring some sincerity to the ‘clever’ Inspector Dotzler, who is in pursuit of his top suspect Bryan.  

Unfortunately all and any efforts by the actors involved are in vain, thanks to the mind-numbingly stupid and boring screenplay by Luc Besson and Robert Mark Kamen. The dialogue clumsily delivers exposition and future plot points in a fairly dry manner. Characterization is also poor. Dotzler is supposed to be a clever man, but he is always several steps behind Bryan. He also has a tendency of eating potential evidence. Overall it is extremely predictable; most audience members will have figured out who the main culprit is within the first twenty minutes.  

The original Taken served Liam Neeson well, reinventing him as an action hero; however this franchise is pretty fatigued at this point. It would be probably best if it stopped here, then again, they thought it had stopped at Taken 2. Instead of seeing Taken 3, re-watch Taken – it is the superior action film in this series, although still problematic in its own right.