Taken 3 (2015)

Not the greatest of Taken. I just liked the story it's totally different and as usual the cast especially Liam was awesome.

After all the excitement of the first two films one might think the Bryon Mills and those close to him deserved a break but inevitably they are caught up in further mayhem. Bryon's ex-wife is murdered in his apartment and moments after he finds her the police arrive and assume he is the killer. Bryon manages to escape from their custody and sets about finding the real killers. The police are one step behind him and as he closes in on the killers he finds himself targeted by them too… if that wasn't enough he is concerned that they may also target his daughter.If you just want lots of mindless action then you could do a lot worse than this; there are numerous fight scenes, shootouts, car chases and explosions. Despite that there isn't the sense of threat that one might expect… Bryon gets out of apparently unsurvivable incidents more than once; at one point he crashes his car down an elevator shaft and somehow survives. There are some twists which aren't bad. The ending is a little cliché… Mills may have proved his innocence in the murder of his wife but would he really be allowed to walk free after kidnapping police officers and causing serious, possibly fatal, mayhem on the freeway?! The silliness is somewhat salvaged by Liam Neeson's fine performance as Mills. The rest of the cast is solid enough. Overall this isn't a must see but if you want some brain in neutral action you could do worse.

The movie drags in certain parts, and many of the violent scenes are unrealistic, but it is an entertaining flick overall, so I awarded 7. I find Forest Whitaker to be VERY hard to take, with his weird wandering eye! Simply cannot get used to this; it is a major distraction to every part he plays. He is the actor chosen, unhappily, to portray Idi Amin in the movie bio. Very distracting! Liam Neeson was his usual self, though looking a bit raggy and haggard. There were some lapses in the actions of the character he plays in this film, but what the heck! It's Hollywood! Go with the flow and relax!

Despite the fact that I was wary about seeing this movie based on word-of-mouth and reviews, I decided to give it a try because its immediate predecessor—Taken 2—had still held my interest. Though I wasn't expecting anything like the spectacular original, I was hoping that "Taken 3" would bring closure (as advertised) to such an interesting concept.For a basic plot summary (minor spoilers…nothing not seen in the trailer), "Taken 3" sees Bryan Mills (Liam Neeson) trying to reconcile his relationship with ex-wife Lenore (Famke Janssen), what with Kim (Maggie Grace) now being off on her own at college. When a meeting between the ex-lovers ends up with "Lenny" dead, however, Bryan is framed for the murder and must flee. On his tail is Detective Frank Dotzler (Forest Whitaker).The main, glaring problem with this film is as simple as it is obvious: In this trilogy, there really was only one excellent story to tell. In the first Taken, a unique plot is bolstered by very well- created characters. That EXACT same tact is used to create a carbon-copy sequel with "Taken 2". That flick still manages to be mildly entertaining because the characters are so strong. However, that well couldn't be gone back to a third time and have been believe-able. So, it goes off course and manages to get even worse. One could argue that only a exercise in screen writing perfection could have made this enjoyable. It was just running on fumes.Perhaps the most disappointing part of the experience, though, is that the trailer/advertising for the film depicts much more background on the Bryan Mills character. That is why I thought the movie might have some redeeming value, but it was not to be. That was obviously a ruse, as it doesn't come up in the film at all.It is also a bit disheartening to see the main actors of the piece try so hard but have so little to work with. The entire project is beneath Whitaker, Neeson is just a carbon-copy, and Grace absolutely acts her heart out in and provides really the only great scenes of the whole experience. I'm surprised she has not received more major roles in Hollywood after this franchise & LOST, as she is a great actress.Overall, "Taken 3" managed to suck every last penny out of a franchise built on a single story. In the future, when I recommend "Taken" to people, I probably won't even mention the two sequels (if maybe just to discourage their being watched). They just do not serve a purpose besides butts in theater seats.