It’s hard to not like Liam Neeson, the delicate mix of tender and tough-as-nails be brings to the now well-known character of Bryan Mills gives us a lead that we can really get behind, but Neeson isn’t so much the problem in Taken 3, it’s that damn dead horse they keep flogging. When Taken first begun, it sparked a pretty big trend of films taking well-established actors and making them unstoppable badasses, and from The Equalizer to John Wick, the formula seemed to be working quite well; but those movies at least bring some inventiveness to the trope, Taken 3 just stumbles along right to the very predictable ending.
Taken 2, which didn’t impress many people either, saw Mills’ now ex-wife, Lenore (Famke Janssen) is the one needing rescue, so it seems unfair to the character that she has to die in a paper-thin murder conspiracy. This is not a spoiler since it’s a part of the publicised plot and was revealed in the trailer; it’s the main trigger for another exploration of Mills’ particular set of skills. Now instead of a rescue mission we get something much closer to a revenge plot mixed with the tension of an escape-driven drama as Mills attempts to evade the LAPD who mistakenly hold him responsible for the murder.
Neeson doesn’t leap into full unstoppable mode straight away, with much of the film’s first half taken up by the game of cat and mouse Mills plays with police as he simply wants to find out who is actually responsible for his ex-wife’s murder. Establishing police chief Forest Whitakar is important to the plot, giving us a wild card who can actually beef up the standard of acting in the movie, but unfortunately Whitaker’s paper-thin portrayal as a police chief doesn’t quite live up to his reputation. Mild excitement comes out of Whitaker unraveling the truth and reserving his judgement of Mills, despite his investigation ultimately fading as soon as the second half of the movie picks up.
Watching Neeson slink in and out of checking on his daughter (Maggie Grace) while he is smartly evading the police adds some great tension so the relatively lifeless plot, still getting to that fire-proof action star status that took Taken to cult fandom. By the point where he is actually ready for a revenge path, Neeson has stumbled to the conclusion that he needs to take on the Russian mob, but it seems a stretch having him trust others involved in the murder so easily and not seeing the small twist that even a 10 year old kid could see coming.
Review Score: TWO STARS (OUT OF FIVE)
Running Time: 112 minutes
Taken 3 is currently screening in cinemas across Australia
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