Taken 3

Starring: Liam Neeson, Maggie Grace, Forest Whitaker, Famke Janssen, Dougray Scott, Sam Spruell, Don Harvey, Dylan Bruno, Leland Orser, Jon Greis
Directed by: Olivier Megaton
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Action, Thriller
2015

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: Bryan Mills (Liam Neeson) is accused of a brutal murder and must find out who framed him.

Review:

Tim: I was interested to see how the Taken trilogy would end, although I didn't have the highest hopes for this movie. The original was good, but the second film was pretty disappointing. With Olivier Megaton back in the director's chair for the second time, I didn't have much faith. The film is equally as disappointing as the second film. It's not a terrible movie, but there's so many gaps in logic that it ruined the experience for me. Even though Liam Neeson is game, this film is just far too flawed to be any good.

It felt like the movie really struggled tonally, especially in relation to the other films in the trilogy. At times, it seemed like the film was really trying to distance itself from the plot of the first two- for example, no one is really "taken" until the end. However, there's so many nods and paraphrases here of things Neeson famously said in the first film. Sequels should connect somewhat to the other films while standing on their own and branching off into their own stories. Perhaps that was what was attempted here, but it just doesn't work. The audience gets mixed messages- "Taken 3 is a very different movie! But, listen to what Bryan Mills is saying- it's so similar to those cool lines you remember from the original!" It just feels forced and uneven.

Perhaps my biggest complaint involves massive logic gaps that had me laughing out loud in frustration. The central premise of the film is that Mills is framed for his ex-wife's murder (that's not a spoiler, cause it was in all the trailers). He spends the majority of the movie trying to prove his innocence while finding the real killers. The problem is that is breaks an unbelievable amount of laws to do that. Yes, he ultimately may not have been guilty of killing his ex, but he commits a wide range of crimes- resisting arrest, assault on a police officer, murdering a ton of people (they are all bad guys, but you still can't walk into a place and kill a bunch of people with no ramifications), destroying police property, trespassing, causing explosions, and much more. Even if he's not guilty of the original murder, the guy should be behind bars for the rest of his life. It was laughable how this was treated, especially at the end (SPOILER ALERT) when he walks free. That alone ruined the movie for me.

Now, the biggest appeal here is once again seeing Neeson as Mills. While the Taken trilogy will ultimately be chalked up as fairly disappointing, this was a great role for him. He does a solid job with the character and it's always fun to see him destroy a litany of bad guys. That's the appeal of these movies and you do get to sit back and revel in the destructive chaos he causes. If you're looking for a reason to see this movie, Neeson is it.

I enjoyed that the cast included Maggie Grace and Famke Janssen. They are essential parts of this trilogy and it was very good seeing them back. I liked the casting of Forest Whitaker, but he has the most ineffective, dull role I've ever seen. His character does absolutely nothing except trail Mills, always a step behind. It is laughable how little his character has to do. I'm not sure why they even included him- he makes almost no impact on the plot, except causing Mills a minor amount of difficulty when he has to get away. I enjoyed Whitaker's acting, but his character was pointless. Dougray Scott was fine in a very predictable role. The cast as a whole was pretty decent.

I do want to point out a few more gaps in logic, as they really hurt the movie. We're expected to believe some absolutely ridiculous garbage. I'll give two examples. Neeson drives a car down an elevator shaft. When the car hits the bottom, it triggers a massive explosion that rises up the elevator shaft and blows out through the ceiling of the building. We are expected to believe he somehow managed to escape the car and get far enough away from the explosion to be fine. That is impossible and beyond ridiculous. Another similar moment is when his car gets knocked off the highway, flying down a deep gorge before exploding at the bottom. Again, even though he had only seconds, we're asked to believe he managed to escape the tumbling car (with no real injuries) and find a convenient place to hide from the bad guys. That's just incredibly lazy writing.

One final flaw- the editing was atrocious in this film. I don't know why Megaton would do it, other than to hide the fact that he has no real talent as a director. During action scenes, we see flashing scenes and shaky cam work that's meant to give the impression of tense, exciting action scenes. Viewers who aren't idiots will realize that quick cuts don't make exciting action scenes. It's annoying, prevents us from getting a clear picture of what is happening, and is a fallback for lack of talent and trying. There's a few car chases that could have been amazing but were absurd blurs. The editing in this film was a disaster and it really hurts the overall film.

Now, while I have plenty of criticisms about this movie, I still didn't hate it. No thanks to Megaton's poor directing, Neeson does manage to somewhat salvage this film. It's not good by any stretch, but it is still somewhat fun to watch. Unfortunately, the sheer ridiculousness of the plot and the myriad directing mistakes means Taken 3 ends the film on a weak note.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating- 6.5



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: Taken, Taken 2, Unknown, A Walk Among the Tombstones