By SETH HYNES
Taken 3 (M)
Starring: Liam Neeson, Forest Whitaker, Maggie Grace, Famke Janssen
TAKEN 3 is the weak third instalment of a series that should have quit while it was ahead.
After his ex-wife is killed in his own home, Bryan Mills (Liam Neeson) goes on the run after being framed for her murder.
The first Taken is a kick-ass action movie, but the best you can say about Taken 3 is that the acting is still high-quality and the film isn’t quite as sloppy as the abysmal Taken 2.
Neeson carries the film modestly with his gruff charisma, and is ably assisted by Forest Whitaker in a driven, obsessive performance as Inspector Dotzler, the policeman leading the hunt for Mills.
For a while, Whitaker’s scenes make Taken 3 feel like a somewhat engaging investigative drama. But this appeal is bogged down by listless pacing and poorly-developed villains, and the plot only moves forward because both sides are conveniently blind to how suspicious the whole situation is.
Worse still, the action and editing in the Taken franchise have both gone to the dogs.
The bloodless fight scenes and car chases are all quick cuts and shaky-cam, with little flow, cohesion or sense of positioning, and the big set-pieces are either generic or ridiculous.
The first Taken movie is a pretty great film – tight, suspenseful, brutal and well-shot. You’d be better off without this vastly inferior follow-up.
– Seth Hynes
