REVIEW: Taken 3 (2015)

Runtime: 112 Mins
Rated: PG-13
What To Expect: Fatigue.  And really, really horrible action sequences

Liam Neeson is now guilty of getting high off of his own gear, as the saying goes about successful dealers who ending up blowing everything by indulging too much.  Taken reinvented him as a successful action star and manly movie A-lister, but if he was guilty of returning to the well once with a shitty sequel that didn’t deserve to be made, what’s his excuse this time, for a third one that is even worse and quite possibly the worst movie of his career?  You’re guilty Liam.  You knew it would be shit, and you’re already not ruling out a Taken 4?  Time to consider movies being thrown at you more carefully.

The story has Bryan Mills framed for the murder of his wife, he then uses a particular set of skills to evade the law and, funnily enough, break so many additional laws in the process that surely even after they ultimately find him innocent of murder, they’d have another life sentence waiting for him anyway.  Beating up 15+ policemen and causing untold thousands in criminal damage?  Setting off explosives in a crowded high school anyone?  Surely a minimal re-write would’ve cleared up the many absurdities in Taken 3, those just mentioned being among the least offensive.  Taken 3 jumps the shark, breaks the rules, shakes the camera and insults our intelligence.

Action movies can push the boundaries of credibility, so long as they at least give us a good time with the old chasing and fight sequences.  Well let me tell you, Taken 3 has some of the worst action sequences I’ve ever seen.  They are violently unintelligible and have the worst editing seen in any movie ever released, and I mean the worst editing ever.  This time director Olivier Megaton has gone too far.  You’d have to see it (or suffer it) to appreciate just how bad it is.  It’s a total mess.

Also, by this third entry in the movie Bryan Mills is showing less vulnerabilities than ever and is getting soft in his old age and doesn’t like killing, like Iron Man in a leather jacket.  All of this is a pity, because the film had a great cast and the old ‘fugitive’ yarn is hard to screw up when it comes to manly movies.  But ultimately, what a blemish on Liam Neeson’s career.

Don’t even see this movie out of curiosity.  It’s one of those movies that you know is bad by the 10 minute mark, you’ll regret it, trust me.