‘Taken 3’ review: Liam Neeson can’t rescue a bland ending to the franchise
Liam Neeson is back as Bryan Mills for the third film in the Taken franchise. Mills and his “special set of skills” won over audiences in the first film, which also served up disturbing commentary on the horrors of human trafficking.
Taken 2 turned Neson into the victim in a disconnected sequel wehre his character exhibited a “boring set of skills.” Director Olivier Megaton returns for Taken 3 and delivers a waterdowned Die Hard film without any of the humor or entertaining characters.
Mills is the prime suspect for the murder of his ex-wife (Famke Janssen) and is in a cat-and-mouse chase from the clever Detective Dotzler (Forest Whitaker) as Mills tried to protect the only thing that matters to him – his daughter, played again by Maggie Grace.
Dougray Scott plays Stuart, the new husband and center of this chaos full of “stock villains” and chase scenes. The plot holes are big enough to drive a Los Angeles bus through, but the creators double down with predictable scene after predictable scene making us recall how we haven’t seen The Fugitive in awhile.
Neeson running around and hitting people younger and more capable has lost its entertaining collateral. It cost the studio $20 million to lure the Rob Roy star back into the Mills role, so we’ve likely (and thankfully) seen the end of the Taken series.
Sam Spruell is made into a “weird looking” dude, but we have to see him in his tighty-whities way too long.
Taken 3 receives 2 stars out of five stars
