Taken 3

♣♣♣/♣♣♣♣♣

Lenore (Famke Janssen) is murdered in Bryan Mills’ (Liam Neeson) flat and he automatically gets the blame for the death of his ex-wife. As usual, he must seek justice, which he could obviously not do if he is behind bars. Thanks to his decades of experience and mad skills, he escapes successfully, contacts his daughter Kim (Maggie Grace) to tell her about the bad news, and promises not to let Lenore’s death be in vain. Clues about the frame-up point to a Russian ex-spy who has been having business deals with the ex-wife’s new husband. Dodging authorities this time around has proven to be a rather difficult thing to do because of Franck Dotzler’s (Forest Whitaker) involvement in the case. Amazed by Mills’ history, the inspector seems to be just as intrigued as he is effectively knowledgeable of the fugitive’s game plan, but still arriving one step behind him every time.

I guess it should be known by now that you should stay away from Brian Mills and his family if you still want to witness the sunrise next morning. Some people just did not get the memo and insist on trying to piss him off. Come on, when will you guys ever learn? At least there is a drastic attempt to have Mills find his match in the form of a Russian ex-spy, who eventually fails anyway. It’s Bryan Mills, people. Remember that meme about Liam Neeson training Batman and Obi Wan Kenobi, being Zeus, and freeing a lot of Jews during the Holocaust? Nobody can get rid of Bryan Mills, but we thank the ex-spy for giving him a hard time.

Kim does not get to participate in the action that much because she is pregnant, and just like any other teenage daughter she finds it hard to tell Dad about it. Seriously, Kim? You almost died in a sex slavery syndicate in Europe in the first movie. You were throwing grenades all around Istanbul in the sequel. And now you find it hard to tell Dad that he is going to be a Grandpa soon? How naive could you be? We get to see Kim outwit the police force, though, so she gets extra points for that. As for Famke Janssen, her character is sacrificed this time to milk the dry storyline. Jean Grey dies again.

The formula for Taken is simple: You mess with Liam Neeson, and then he makes you pay. Serving as the conclusion to the trilogy, this film stays true to form and fails to offer anything new, unfortunately. The Taken franchise has become the Final Destination of the action genre, with Liam Neeson single-handedly maintaining it, not that there is anything wrong with that. The thrill is still there and the action is still ridiculously awesome. Of course you will enjoy this movie, but if you are the type who would like to see at least some attempt on innovation for an already tired storyline, you might be disappointed.

By the way, Forest Whitaker is a good addition to the cast, but his character is just so lame that you forget he is even there in the first place. When the franchise runs out of ideas and starts to rely more on formula, it is a clear signal that everything should end there. We already get it Liam Neeson, you are the man. Maybe you should be 007 next?