Taken 3 *** (2014, Liam Neeson, Forest Whitaker, Maggie Grace) – Movie Review

Liam Neeson returns for a third and supposedly final time as ex-government operative Bryan Mills, who starts things off again in Los Angeles a couple of years after the events of part 2 in Istanbul by emotionally reconnecting with his ex-wife Lenore or Lenny (Famke Janssen).

Well, as Neeson says: ‘I was excited to come back for the third film, but I did have some reservations at first because what else could we do? Bryan Mills couldn’t have his daughter taken again. Otherwise he’d be up for really bad parenting.’ Good point!

So, after some soft soapy family drama, including also his pregnant daughter Kim (Maggie Grace), her boyfriend (Jonny Weston) and Lenore’s greasy new husband Stuart St John (Dougray Scott) who tells him to back off from his wife, Mills finds a dead body in his bed. He’s standing over it with the murder weapon knife in his hand, and the cops have arrived to arrest him. They have just enough time to accuse him of a ruthless murder he never committed or witnessed, when he takes off pronto on the run.

As he is relentlessly tracked and pursued by the cops led by clever police inspector Franck Dotzler (Forest Whitaker), Mills brings out his special skills to find the true killer and clear his name.

This isn’t a bad set-up for a second sequel, but the movie proves a real B-movie action thriller potboiler, made in the old 70s style, with little regard to credibility and total eye on the action. Though he doesn’t look as though he’s doing much of the action, Neeson is a class act, but he’s the only classy thing in the movie. However, Taken 3 keeps powering along non-stop for an hour and three quarters for basic, brain-in-neutral action entertainment.

Whitaker goes through his worried cop act nicely one more time, Scott acts splendidly untrustworthy, and Sam Spruell makes a wonderfully sleazy Russian villain, Oleg Malankov, and a now too-old-looking Grace is fine as the daughter-in-peril.

The first movie was a great thriller, but this is more of a guilty pleasure. Luc Besson still provides the story, along with Robert Mark Kamen. It’s directed by Olivier Megaton, known for Taken 2 (2012) and Transporter 3 (2008).

No one will be entirely shocked if Taken 4 emerges eventually. I’d still like to see Neeson playing a private eye like Philip Marlowe or Sam Spade, say in a remake of The Big Sleep or The Maltese Falcon.

http://derekwinnert.com/the-maltese-falcon-classic-film-review-722/

© Derek Winnert 2015 Movie Review

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com/