Taken 3

First Hit:  Third time was not a charm for this series.

Bryan Mills (Liam Neeson) is back for a third time and instead of his wife or daughter being directly held hostage, here we have a situation where his former wife Lenore (Famke Janssen) is killed to get his attention.

He is being framed for the killing and it is up to him and a LA cop Frank Dotzler (Forest Whitaker), to find the truth. As with all “Taken” films, there is a lot of violence, amazing skills of eluding his pursuers, and the righteous ending of his innocence. The frame-up is staged by his former wife’s husband and a Russian mobster.

The film felt constricted and Neeson is getting a little long in the tooth do be riding a car down an elevator shaft and magically surviving.

Neeson is good in this role he owns. However, the script, his age and the tired franchise all need to be retired with this last film. Janssen has a small and shortened role which doesn’t give her much room to show her skills. Maggie Grace, as Kim Mills, Bryan’s daughter, is good in this safe, non-eventful role. Whitaker is, as always, a scene stealer and is a strong presence in the story. Luc Besson and Robert Mark Kamen wrote this weak and uninspired script. Olivier Megaton was the director and the finished result was rather week.

Overall:  This was a very uninspired film.

Taken 2

First Hit:  Almost as good as the original film which many follow-ons cannot claim.

With Liam Neeson getting older, I wondered if he’d be able to deliver on another intense action thriller.

As divorced CIA agent Bryan Mills, he’s about to go to Istanbul for a short 3-day protection job. Before his trip he's spending time with his daughter Kim (played by Maggie Grace) and assisting her with her driving test. He’s, as you might imagine, very controlling and deliberate.

When he goes to pick up his daughter he gets the chance to talk with his former wife Lenore (played by Famke Janssen). She is unhappy and Mills is sensitive to her unhappiness. Yes, he misses her. When he discovers she and Kim cannot go on their trip to China together, he offers them a trip to Istanbul. They take him up on his offer and that is this film's set up.

The people he killed in the previous Taken film because they stole his daughter are after him and his whole family. They are revengeful – this, for me, is the stupid part of the film. However without this revenge there is no film.

Once the killers take Mills and his wife, then the game is on and here is where Mills skills and Kim’s insistence to help her father create a way to kill the perpetrators and save their family.

The action is swift and precise and this alone makes this film come together.

Neeson is wonderful and believable as both a father and action agent. He can do both very well. Janssen was very good as his lost former wife. Grace was great as the daughter willing to help her father. Rade Serbedzija as Murad the primary perpetrator was excellent at embodying the philosophy of revenge. Luc Besson and Robert Mark Kamen wrote a good screenplay. Oliver Megaton directed the action in an adequate way, although the fight scenes were a little too staccato to watch to make them feel real. It is a way to hide poor action choreography.

Overall: The action was good. And as a follow-on to the original film, this one bodes well.

Taken

First Hit: This is a no bones about it film. You know the plot, you know the ending, and it is well done.

Liam Neeson plays Bryan Mills a retired CIA operative who was a “preventer” which meant he prevented major world issues from happening while in the service for his country.

His job took him all over the world and therefore he wasn’t home much. He missed being with his daughter Kim (played by Maggie Grace) and therefore as she turns 17 years old, he wants to recapture what he lost, so he retires and moves to be near his daughter and hopefully rekindle his relationship with her.

His former wife and daughter ask him to sign a form allowing her to travel to Europe which is customary in divorce cases when the child is under 18. Him being the ever cautious person because of his former life gives her an international cell phone and asks her to call every night.

When he speaks with her the first time, it so happens that her roommate is being abducted and she is about to be abducted. Liam heads to Paris to find his daughter and save her from her abductees.

The director Pierre Morel kept this film under control the whole way. Liam played to his strengths and wasn't trying to be someone he wasn’t (like romancing someone half his age). The crooks were mean and dark enough and I loved the guy sitting at the table when Liam enters the compound where girls, like his daughter, are kept. This guy had that look that said “I’m bad, I know I’m bad, you know I’m bad and I don’t need to say a thing.”

Overall: This a straightforward adventure thriller and it works because the scenes are crisp, tight and clear. There is little confusion in this film and it is simply one to sit back and enjoy.