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.

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