Taken 3

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Taken 3 was an attempt (emphasis on the word attempt) to take the franchise in a different direction the previous two movies. The problem is, they tried doing this by rehashing the plot of The Fugitive, further proving Taken would have worked better as a solo film than a franchise. Before I get into the issues I have with the movie, I want to talk about what I did like. I liked Liam Neeson, Maggie Grace, and Forest Whitaker. I also liked some of the smaller moments involving those three particular actors. And then, there’s everything else. Dougray Scott in this movie reminds me of Javier Bardem in The Gunman. He’s a good actor who I think just gave a bad performance. As I’ve already said the plot is The Fugitive-lite. A man’s wife is murdered, and he gets framed. He then goes on a hunt for the real killer while dodging the authorities who are out looking for him. But, by far, the worst aspect of this movie lies in the direction. I’m just not a big fan of director Olivier Megaton. Every single action sequence in the movie is an ugly, nauseating, incomprehensible, shaky-cam riddled mess. The editing in the movie is annoying. I swear to God, it feels like shots can’t last longer than 10 seconds, otherwise the audience might lose interest. In terms of the wife’s death in the movie, I feel like that should have been an unexpected moment in the movie. That moment was, unfortunately, given away in the trailer. In the end, all Taken 3 does for me, is assure me that we don’t need or want this franchise to go on any longer.

3 / 10