Back when it was released, someone said of Taken 3, the (obviously) third film in the surprisingly popular (at least until this point) Taken series:

Taken 3 makes Taken 2 look like Taken.

In other words, as bad as Taken 2 was, and many thought it was a big step down from the original, this one was far worse.

As for me, I agree with the sentiment that the first Taken was the best of the (so far) three made.  However, as much of a step down as the second film was, it did have its pluses.  I wouldn’t rank it among the best action films I’ve ever seen, but neither would I put it among the worst (my full review of Taken 2 can be read here).

And then there’s Taken 3…

If you were to see the film in a vacuum without comparing and/or thinking about the previous Taken films, you might find it a passable time-killer and not much else.  As I wasn’t too invested (or, frankly, could remember) all that many details of the previous Taken films other than general plotlines, I was able to watch this movie in that frame of mind and found it an ok time killer and nothing more.

The plot goes like this (some SPOILERS follow, though they are from the start of the film):

Bryan Mills (Liam Neeson) continues living his life.  We find he’s still dealing with his daughter Kim (Maggie Grace), whom he cares deeply about even while he stumbles about on dealing with the fact that she is no longer a child but a woman.  In the movie’s opening act we find she is pregnant and, while Mills isn’t aware of this, it doesn’t figure too much into the movie’s story.  Mills also finds time to be a shoulder to lean on for his beautiful ex-wife, Leonore St. Cloud (Famke Janssen).  In those opening minutes we also find that something preoccupies her, and it may relate to her current husband and the souring of their relationship.

When Mills receives a text to come see his ex-wife at his apartment, Mills buys some bagels (this turns out to be ridiculously important to the movie’s plot), heads home, and finds his wife on his bed…dead.  Her throat has been slashed.

Mere seconds after arriving and finding her dead, a pair of police officers bust into the apartment and Mills, right away, is their main suspect in his ex-wife’s murder.

Mills gets away and a Fugitive-like storyline plays out with Mills searching for whodunnit while the cops, including one allegedly super intelligent cop named Franck Dotzler (Forrest Whitaker) nip at his heels.

As I said before, if you were to enter this film without any predispositions or memories for the previous films -along with a willingness to ignore a storyline lifted almost whole from so many other films/TV shows/books, etc- you’ll find Taken 3 is at best a mildly diverting action/adventure film.  It moves along at a fair clip though one gets the feeling the people behind the scenes involved in it didn’t quite give it their all.

Mind you, I’m not knocking the work of Liam Neeson, Forrest Whitaker, Maggie Grace, and Famke Janssen (in what amounted to a cameo).  They deliver their characterizations well.  Unfortunately, the people who produced/directed the film, I suspect, were more interested in making a quick and cheap work, one that would hit the theaters fast and make them some profit.  The storyline, as I mentioned before, is hardly anything new or original.  The action sequences are decent but nothing extraordinary.  The special effects, on the other hand, are mostly cheap.  Two in particular, involving a container rolling along a highway and a car smashing into an aircraft, are almost laughable.

But as with most underperforming movies, the main fault always lies in the story/script.  The movie’s worst offense is turning the Bryan Mills’ character into a standard action hero.  What made him unique and interesting in the first Taken film, in my opinion, was the startling lengths he was willing to go to get his daughter.  At one point in the film he visits an old police friend in France who welcomes him into his house with open arms.  During the course of what appeared to be an amicable visit, Mills shows his teeth.  He knows his friend has knowledge of who the bad guys are that he’s looking for and when his police friend is unwilling to give him that information, Mills brutally threatens the man’s wife to get what he wants.

This, to me, was what made Mills such a unique action hero.  He’s a shark and he’ll do whatever the hell he has to, including not just burning but nuking bridges to get to his goal.

In Taken 3, though, he’s become an ordinary hero, one who even has time for some levity/one liners.  While the use of one-liners can be groan inducing, I have to give the filmmakers credit for at least one thing here: The moment I enjoyed most in the film, the one that made me laugh out loud, was when you have a police officer delivering your typical cliched “You have no hope/we will hunt you down/you should give up right now” speech and Mills replying with something along the lines of “don’t be so pessimistic”.

So, in sum, Taken 3 is, at best, an OK time killer that feels like a lazy effort by those who made it, if not those who acted in it.  I suppose the original adage is correct.  Taken 3 is easily the least of the three Taken films and, based on the critical reaction, perhaps the series will die with it.

In that case, it might be a merciful end.

And now for something completely different…Liam Neeson is absolutely hilarious here: