Only a few months after the original “Taken” was released in January 2009, star Liam Neeson’s wife, Natasha Richardson, died following a tragic skiing accident. Since then Neeson has starred in more than 20 movies, the majority of which are intense, heart-pounding action movies. He’s said that these films, such as “Clash of the Titans”, “The A-Team”, “Unknown”, “The Grey”, “Taken 2”, “Non-Stop”, and even as the voice of Good Cop/Bad Cop in “The LEGO Movie”, have given his life purpose to continue doing what he loves.
And while not all of those 20 films were critical successes, they’ve grossed a combined $1.2 billion domestically, and have helped define Neeson as this decade’s top action movie star. And considering he’s 62, that’s something Neeson should be very proud of.
It’s unfortunate that “Taken 3”, the latest installment in the “I will find you and I will kill you” is not nearly as good as it should be. A few days before seeing “TAK3N” (as it’s written on some of the posters and TV ads), I watched the original for the first time. Not only does that film excel in the action department, but a lot of care went into developing the characters and adding an emotional element to the storyline.
Sadly, six years later, what was unique and original has become typical Hollywood exploitation. Neeson has said, in the best and funniest ways possible, that he wouldn’t star in “Taken 3” if it was about someone in the family getting abducted once again, because that would simply be “insulting” to the audience. So, the writers had to dig a little deeper for a script to finish this trilogy. They didn’t dig deep enough.
The initial premise works: Neeson’s Bryan Mills is framed for a murder he didn’t commit, and then decides to run from the LA Police, who for the remainder of the film, try to catch him. At the same time Sargent Dotzler (played by Oscar winner Forest Whitaker) is trying to piece this puzzle together and figure out if Bryan and his daughter Kim (Maggie Grace back again) are telling the truth in claiming Mills’ innocence.
Of course, Neeson has to show who’s boss by alluding the cops and taking down bad guys in the process. And at times he does it in a style similar to Robert Downey, Jr.’s Sherlock Holmes, explaining after the fact how he pulled-off some of his tricks. But, unlike most Neeson films, there are very few entertaining moments and clever one-liners in “Taken 3”. And the incredibly fast and frantic editing of the so-so car chases and shoot-outs made them difficult to watch.
On top of all of this, Neeson simply isn’t given much to do this time around. There are no authentically dramatic or emotional scenes, or anything surprising or unpredictable. In fact, much of the set-up of “Taken 3” is nearly identical to the original: Bryan brings Kim a birthday present (this time a giant Panda Bear, which he talks to at one point). He then briefly hangs out with his buddies and then gets a call that Kim wants to go to lunch with him to share some news. And, there’s a torture sequence later in the film, though not nearly as shocking as the electrocution scene in the original.
By far the best thing in “Taken 3” is Whitaker, whose gives a quirky, convincing performance, from his habit of playing with a rubber band to using bagels to try to solve the case. His character and performance deserve to be in a much better film.
On The Official LCJ Report Card, “Taken 3” gets a disappointing C. This franchise has now “taken” its toll on enough moviegoers to officially be put to rest.
Running Time: 109 min.