Film Review: Ramshackle, Rickety ‘Taken 3’ is Far Too Predictable

CHICAGO – “Taken 3” is more a brand extension than a movie. Seven years after “Taken” turned Liam Neeson into an unlikely action star, “Taken 3” shows this series has completely run out of gas. The novelty of the hulking Oscar-nominee beating bad guys to a pulp wore off a long time ago. “Taken 3” puts Neeson through the most pedestrian set of paces yet. It says something when the operative word of his first scene is “predictable.” Neeson only says it a half-dozen times.

Rating: 2.0/5.0

The plots of all three “Taken” movies are ludicrous, but just to give you some bearings let’s go over this one anyway. This time after about 20 minutes of clumsy foreshadowing while we watch Neeson’s Bryan Mills spin his wheels waiting for something to happen, Neeson’s ex-wife (Famke Janssen) is found dead in his apartment, and he’s framed for the murder. After a little fisticuffs with the cops who come to arrest him he escapes into the Los Angeles underground.

He’s tracking down who really killed his wife while the LAPD (headed up by Forest Whitaker) are tracking him. And for a man wanted for murder, he doesn’t do a very good job of staying out of sight. He sneaks into the morgue to snip hair from his dead ex-wife’s body and he regularly calls well-known associates, along with his daughter – the one person cops would be all over like a bum on a bologna sandwich from the get-go.

“Taken 3” opens everywhere on January 9th. Featuring Liam Neeson, Famke Janssen, Maggie Grace, Forest Whitaker, Dougray Scott, Jonny Weston and Sam Spruell. Written by Luc Besson and Robert Mark Kamen. Directed by Oliver Megatron. Rated “PG-13”