Taken 3

... Its Taken 3 what did you expect?

In 2008, Liam Neeson took the world by storm by starring in a small French action film called Taken where he played an ex-CIA agent who goes to Paris when his daughter is kidnapped by French gangsters and try and sell her in the sex trade.

The movie was gritty, action packed, and started a whole lot of running jokes about Liam Neeson talking on the phone in a dark threatening manner.

I personally love the first Taken movie. Yeah its not Citizen Kane but there's something to be said about a 60 year old Liam Neeson just going out and beating the shit out of a bunch of people that is just fun. Its like the Bourne movies if Jason Bourne was a retired old guy.

But then they made a second movie.

Believe it or not, Taken 2 was actually the first movie that I ever reviewed on this blog. Its a rough review so give me some slack, but the Taken trilogy has a special place on this blog.

That being said, in that blog I made a personal plea to Mr. Neeson himself and asked him to not do a Taken 3. He's done two successful movies about the same thing, there is no reason to do a third one.

And what happened? Well... they didn't make the EXACT same movie... at least not the exact same movie as the last two Taken movies.

When we catch up with former CIA agent Brian Mills, he's got a pretty good thing going. His daughter (played by Maggie Grace) is his biggest fan and they have a pretty good relationship. He's got his CIA buddies and they go out golfing, and to top it all off, he's got a great relationship with his ex-wife (played by Famke Janssen). In fact he has almost too great of a relationship with her.

His ex-wife Lenore is married to a businessman named Stewart (who they for some reason decided to change actors from Xander Berkley to that guy from Mission Impossible 2, Dougray Scott.). Their marriage is not going well and Lenore has no problem talking out her problems with Brian. Something that Stewart has been having issues with for a while now.

But that won't in anyway be a big deal later on in the movie...

Anyways, Brian's life is going so well and he goes home when he gets a text from Lenore telling him to meet her at his place. However, when he gets there, he finds Lenore dead and the police hot on his tail. In particular he has an overly ambitious detective (played by Forrest Whittaker) who will stop at nothing until Brian is brought in to face justice for his wife's murder...

Wait a second, this sounds familiar. Successful man is framed for the murder of his wife. There's an ambitious cop on his tail as the man must work to clear his name of her murder? Holy shit, this is the plot to The Fugitive.

I mean... its not the worst movie to rip off but its just kind of a strange turn from the subject matter of the past Taken movies. Go from an international video game movie (video game as in its very linear and to the point) to a knock off of a very personal crime thriller. I mean a crime thriller is a crime thriller but this movie has a very different feel from the past movies and it felt a little strange.

Now the execution of this knock off is a little bit different and more adapted to the time we live in now and the kind of franchise that Taken is in, but overall, Taken 3 is the The Fugitive.

I mean, for the review's sake, it makes this movie a lot easier to review because I mean... its The Fugitive. Again, not a horrible movie to rip off but if you're trying to top the Fugitive, its just not going to happen.

Both Forest Whittaker and Liam Neeson are good actors but they just don't have the same chemistry and rivalry as Ford and Jones.

I like Whittaker but the man is boring in this movie. I didn't get the feeling that this man was some kind of brilliant detective and I don't care how many chess pieces or pieces of rubber band he plays with, he's not decisive like Tommy Lee Jones was.

So yeah... Taken 3 really shot itself in the foot because the minute that you realize that this movie is just ripping off The Fugitive you just compare it to The Fugitive and if you're going against The Fugitive, you're just going to lose.

So taking The Fugitive out of the mix, the movie I guess is a decent departure from the complaints that I and a lot of people had from the second Taken film, that it was the exact same movie. I mean its not. But in that case, why was this movie called Taken. I'm not asking for a repeat of the last two movies... in fact, why did there even need to be a third movie? Taken 2 really wrapped itself up nicely and there was nothing that carried over to this film.

Maggie Grace is still Maggie Grace. She doesn't do much for the plot except be something that Brian cares about. And then you have Stuart.

Now, as a fan of 24 and of Xander Berkley, I have no idea why they replaced Xander Berkley with Dougray Scott.

And don't get me wrong, I like Dougray Scott. I liked him in Mission Impossible 2, I've liked him in other things. The man was going to be Wolverine until he turned it down and it was taken by Hugh Jackman.

But the big problem I have with this guy is that he's an Scottish actor who hasn't quite gotten down the American accent yet.

And one of the parts that was actually kind of funny was when you have Liam Neeson and him talking and you played who can hold their American accent the longest.

And it wasn't like this role was switched because the character is minor and nobody would notice or care, no Stuart's role is actually pretty big in this movie and its pretty damn obvious that this is not the same character from the first movie.

Maybe I'm making a bigger deal out of it than I should, but it was obvious and annoying.

Good things... I mean... the action was good. I mean the franchise delivers on something that its been pretty consistent on throughout the franchise. Another thing that was entertaining was Brian Mills character. Not so much that it was complex or not but he'd go into these gun fights with just a pistol and only fire it a couple of times.

Its actually really funny cause there's a part where he's storming this bad guys apartment and they all have shotguns and assault rifles and he just has a pistol. I had a bunch of moments where I was yelling for him to pick up the assault rifle, to actually use the shotgun instead of fighting for it with a gun and then throwing it down when the guy was finally dead.

But Liam Neeson does not need assault rifles. All he needs is a pistol (barely) and his bare hands. It doesn't matter if its terrorists, cops, or wolves, nothing will stand in his way, and that is something that Taken 3 continues.

Is Taken 3 a good movie? Oh god no. I don't think anybody here or where you are reading this ever thought this movie was going to be good. So I think they really had a couple options to go on. Do they do the same thing they've done two times already? Do they make it more over the top and beat everyone to the joke because they know its already being made? Or do they try something different?

Oddly enough, they took the third option. The unfortunate part is, they only took it half heartedly and the result is a lazy action flick that while it seems like its doing something different, just seems half assed at best.

Taken 3 is entertaining. But really only up for one watch. If you're a fan of the trilogy, you might enjoy seeing the franchise slowly choke on its laziness, but you're not gonna see anything incredible. If you watch Taken 3, be warned.

But those are my thoughts on Taken 3. What did you think when you saw it? Comment and Discuss below. You can also send me your thoughts on Twitter @cmhaugen24 and send me your thoughts for future reviews that I will make my priority. You can also follow me to get updates on movie news and reviews from this blog.

I'll leave you with this. Here's Liam Neeson reading your child a bedtime story. Enjoy!