813. Taken 3 (2015)

Starring: Liam Neeson, Forest Whitaker, Maggie Grace

Director: Olivier Megaton

Running Time: 109 mins

Tak3n is a French film and the final instalment in the Taken franchise. In this film, Bryan Mills finds himself pursued by the LAPD after being suspected of murdering his ex-wife, and he must go on the run to prove his innocence, find the real killer, and, of course, protect his daughter.

Well, hopefully, this is the end of the Taken trilogy, something that we never needed or really asked for in the first place. This film is probably the worst of all three, due to a total lack of tension or real excitement, and whilst it’s undeniably fun, has a different story and works perfectly as light entertainment, it’s light years away from where it was in the first film.

Now, I loved Taken. It was a gritty, realistic and uniquely thrilling experience, one which I have enjoyed ever since, and, by its lasting legacy, you can see its importance as one of the most iconic action movies of the 2000s. Taken 2, on the other hand, was unoriginal, a lot more boring, very repetitive, and even though it was still a bit of fun and had an almost identical story to the first film, it doesn’t deserve much merit.

The main benefit about this film is that it’s got a different plot. Nobody’s really ‘taken’, and it’s more just a rip-off of The Fugitive. However, the one thing that the story does do is keep you relatively interested throughout, and although it’s not particularly thrilling, it is a fun experience, and it isn’t frustratingly boring or anything.

However, what this story is is preposterous. Apart from the fact that Liam Neeson’s character, Bryan Mills, should be dead by now, it’s full of the most ridiculous and unbelievable events, which are very annoying as the film tries to move along without taking into account how ridiculous it really is (for example, there’s no reason that Liam Neeson actually has to go on the run here, but for the sake of the plot, he does, which constantly irritated me…)

The other problem with the story is that it tries far too hard to be really clever and unpredictable. Again, the first film was exactly that, but here, it’s such a generic action thriller with one of the most predictable story lines that it’s not clever, and despite its attempts to subtly show the intricacies of the plot (such as Forest Whittaker’s character always holding a chess piece, attempting to symbolise ‘the game’ that Liam Neeson is playing with him), it becomes a hugely convoluted story towards the end, with far too many different parties involved.

So, overall, this gets a 6.4, because although it is easy-going and fun to watch, it’s a pretty pointless and predictable sequel that just doesn’t compare to its original.