Film Review - Taken 3

Taken Aback

Film: Taken 3

Cast: Liam Neeson, Forest Whitaker, Maggie Grace

Directed by: Olivier Megatron

Duration: 1 hr 51 mins

Rating:  *  * 

Much like many other Hollywood franchises, Taken is the type where if you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all. Luckily, there are only 3 in this franchise and supposedly this is going to be the end, or so the tag line says. 

The first installment back in 2008 was quite entertaining but Taken 2 (2013) was no great shakes and this one sits at the bottom of it all. 

Liam Neeson plays Bryan Mills an ex-secret agent who doesn’t look like one but he still is a one man army. There are no kidnappings this time but it’s his ex-wife (Famke Janssen) who is murdered and the blame is pinned on Mills who manages to escape from the authorities and wants to prove his innocence. As usual, a cop (Forest Whitaker) is in hot pursuit and there is the Russian mafia angle to the story. Maggie Grace plays Mills daughter and he is hell-bent on protecting her no matter what.

The whole film runs on autopilot mode. Co-written by Luc Besson, it operates in the been-there- done-that mode.  More often than not, in such films, there are some action sequences that give you some of your money’s worth but there is nothing that stands out in Taken 3. In fact the fast cutting during the action scenes is more like a Michael Bay film. 

Liam Neeson is eminently likable in whatever he does and being a top actor that he is, he even pulls off an action film like this. But otherwise Taken 3 has very little going in its favor. In a way am glad that  “It ends here” 

Published in The Navhind Times on 11th January 2015
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