The tagline for Taken 3 was “It Ends Here.” Let’s hope
that they were right, and this is the last atrocious attempt at forcing a
franchise out of one solid action movie. I knew that this film was going to be
awful long before I watched it, and that may have actually helped my viewing
experience. While there was some hope that the second film might match the
original’s ability to make unbelievable action entertaining, every aspect of
the marketing campaign for Taken 3
seemed determined to lower my expectations. From the horrendously asinine
decision to have the film promoted as Tak3n
instead of Taken 3 to the fact that
the plot doesn’t involve anyone getting taken, the advertisements for this
second sequel felt more like parody than a sincere effort at action.
In what we can
only hope is the final installment of the franchise, former CIA operative Bryan
Mills (Lim Neeson) is pulled into a local conflict this time around. Adjusting
to a quieter life in Los Angeles , Mills turns
down a job in order to stay close to his daughter (Maggie Grace) and ex-wife
(Famke Janssen) in Los Angeles
Taken 3 deters from the previous films
in the franchise beyond the missing kidnapping element in other ways as well.
Rather than the European setting of the first two, this film has Los Angeles
Megaton also has
a particularly difficult time getting convincing performances from his actors,
especially the contrived early moments of the film that feature a jovial
Neeson. Whitaker struggles to make the dialogue convincing, most of the time
appearing to be struggling to simply remember his lines. Janssen survives the
few scenes she has (at least as far as acting is concerned), but is treated as
little more than a prop in the storyline. Worst yet is the return of Grace as
the unlucky daughter of Mills. She landed this role while still riding the
success of “Lost,” but each return to the franchise exposes her inability to
handle bad dialogue with even a modicum of believability.
The Blu-ray
release of the film includes both the theatrical cut, along with an
indiscernibly different unrated cut. The action never even reaches the level of
intensity that the first film had, so I can’t imagine there was ever any danger
of an R-rating. This is merely a ploy to convince consumers they will see a
better film than the piece of crap released in theaters. The Blu-ray release
also comes with a digital copy of the film, along with a handful of promotional
featurettes and a few deleted scenes. There is also a photo gallery.
Entertainment Value:
6.5/10
Quality of
Filmmaking: 4/10
Historical
Significance: 2/10
Special Features: 4.5/10
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