TAKEN 3 | But Why Not?

I mean there are a lot of things that you could say go right in a movie, but isn’t it so much more fun to say what went wrong?

Taken 3 came out in cinemas last week, and promised more of the winning formula used in the Taken franchise – a scary and scarily gifted Liam Neeson, guns, explosions, guns, bad guys, a scary Liam Neeson…bringing us to the all important question.

Why is it that people still have not learned to take Liam Neeson’s things? I mean, this guy has been a Jedi Master, Aslan, Brian Mills and God (because let’s be honest, no one ever remembers that the character on the screen isn’t Liam Neeson. Sure, it’s not the name they’re calling him in the movie, but…that’s our Liam). Isn’t it about time someone took him seriously?

What was wrong with Taken 3? I’ll start with the first most obvious problem – there’s a Taken 3. Why is it that we are still doing sequels and/or adaptations of books (The Fault In Our Stars, The Hunger Games, Divergent…) and/or reboots (Star Wars, Terminator, Total Recall…)? And you know what, I bet they SAY it’s going to be the last Taken, but I doubt it. They’re going to get his daughter or his nephew or something to play the lead in the next Taken coz our Liam is old. Just wait and see.

Speaking of age, I find it hard to believe that old Liam could pull off all those moves at his level of physical fitness, much like Denzel in The Equalizer (can you believe he’s 60??!!) or Daniel Craig in Skyfall. When you watch the movie, there is a point he is running, jumping over things, the usual, and you can see his ka-kitambi over his sweatpants…I don’t think he’s the most believable badass in the books, but do we love him anyway? Yes.

The action, for me, was too quick to watch, much like (ugh) Transformers. Sometimes I didn’t know exactly who was getting beaten up, or blown up. Simple is sometimes better, no? At some point he is chasing the bad guys on a cliff but you don’t really understand how he got to the bad guys in the first place…because of the blurriness in the scene before.

Other than that, the plot was simple and straightforward, not trying to be anything bigger or deeper than a movie about a guy who loves his family and would kill for them, with a couple of death-defying stunts on the side. So a total score minus the gravity of the flaws gives Taken 3 a strong 6 out of 10, for me.

You? Think there’ll be a full on Taken franchise so it becomes a series like Fast and Furious? Is this really the end? Will Liam live to kill another guy? Let us know in the comment section below.

Live long and prosper.