Taken 3
Published June 7, 2015
Film info
- Title Taken 3
- Director Oliver Mégaton
- Year 2014
- Run time 1hr 49m
- Genres Action, Thriller
- Tagline It ends here
Liam Neeson returns as ex-government operative Bryan Mills, whose life is shattered when he's falsely accused of a murder that hits close to home. As he's pursued by a savvy police inspector, Mills employs his 'particular set of skills' to track the real killer and exact his unique brand of justice.
Live blog
| Time | Comment |
|---|---|
| 2:18 | “I’m just the accountant, I don’t know anything.” |
| 6:38 | Everyone should have a big cuddly panda toy, why not? |
| 8:38 | Giant toy in the passenger seat. Crazy cute. |
| 9:38 | He left the door open?? After the first two films??? |
| 17:31 | Lotta drama so far, it’s like an oldies version of Dawson’s Creek. |
| 23:22 | Overflow river system from Grease… and every film ever. Love spotting that. |
| 26:30 | Are you allowed to just eat the bagels from a crime scene? |
| 28:48 | Bunker! Of all the people to have a bunker, Liam Neeson is totally the one. |
| 32:14 | Thirty minutes in and no one has mentioned the specialist skills. |
| 40:39 | Can’t believe 21 Jump Street has ruined the Miranda rights for me. Giggling when I shouldn’t be. |
| 43:15 | Car chases have got so fast-paced now I don’t have a clue what’s going on. |
| 44:10 | Was on his side until this hair-brained car chase. Loadsa people must be hurt. He deserves prison. |
| 46:57 | He really, really didn’t want to go prison. |
| 52:21 | Love that he’s a super smart cop too. |
| 59:02 | Poisoned his own daughter, just minutes after she said he wouldn’t hurt her. |
| 1:14:32 | Can’t be doing with Bryan the waterboarder. |
| 1:25:27 | They’ve pulled a Speed with the CCTV footage. |
| 1:38:21 | Dude just drove a car into a plane. Never NEVER cross him. |
| 1:38:48 | YES! Three films and she was finally awesome! |
Conclusions
Taken is a film series we have something of a love/hate relationship with. Many people make fun of the first film, but I really loved it. Kick-ass action, and those particular set of skills which really set Liam Neeson off in a new direction. The trouble being, of course, that since then he’s done barely anything but have those skills and it’s not really bringing about anything new.
Taken 2 was a poor rip-off of the first, but at least with this final film (I hope!) they went in a new direction. This time, it wasn’t really about someone being taken, although there was a little bit of that. It was more about the potential of freedom being taken away. I liked the change in style, but I was annoyed that they spent so much time building up the drama of the piece. No one really cares about his relationship with his ex-wife or his daughter, so we don’t need scene upon scene of them having heart-to-hearts.
I did enjoy that Whitaker’s detective was actually pretty smart, being less than a step behind his prey, and eventually catching up with him when it counted. I did not like the scene at the end, where I said “What’s he going to do, drive the car into the plane?” before cringing when that’s exactly what he did.
It really wasn’t a fab film, and it didn’t live up to the first, but then again it was definitely better than the second. I also have an odd sort of satisfaction having ticked all three off the to-watch list. Neeson retains his specialist skills and that’s all that really matters.
Rating: 3/5.
Rating: 3 / 5