Taken 3 (2014)
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Writers: Luc Besson, and Robert Mark Kamen
Cast: Liam Neeson (Bryan Mills), Forest Whitaker (Frank Dotzler), Famke Janssen (Lenore St John), Maggie Grace (Kim Mills), Dougray Scott (Stuart St. John), Sam Spruell (Oleg Malankov), Dan Harvey (Garcia), Dylan Bruno (Smith), Leland Orser (Sam), David Warshofsky (Bernie), Jon Gries (Mark), Jonny Weston (Jimy), Andrew Borba (Clarence), and Judi Beecher as (Claire).
Hope your Halloween was safe and fun, up until the Star Wars film is out on screen on December 18, 2015, my reviews will be broad, from action starting with Taken 3, to films that make you cry at the movies. 2015 had a huge beginning, from good action to comic style films, and the end will come with the Star Wars episode VII film making it's way next month. Great films, bad films i review them all, love everything about these new films coming out, the new generation has everything to look forward to in the upcoming film Star Wars film; it probably will hit and break every record to date.
Anyway enjoy Taken 3, and remember a review is all opinion, there are no wrongs or rights about films, it's the audience that really make or break the movie at the silver screen. The evolution of film and the industry is making changes as we grow, think back to the 70s and compare today's work and the different look and feel you get on screen, all those aspects of the film has changed. So thank you again for challenging me on every review, because not everything is the same, movies change as well as the audience. What was loved back in the day, may not be loved in the present. This review thing is pretty tough because like i said everything down to what i think is good may not be in your eyes.
Taken 3 opens up calmly, Bryan Mills (Liam Neeson) going to see his daughter Kim (Maggie Grace), she has just tested herself, and the results are a positive, she is pregnant. Like i said the film starts off calm, getting into the characters. On the flip side of things the very intro to the film is the bad guys, Russian mob, they do there thing and shoot the man which they grabbed from his home, away from his wife. Either way the film still starts off a bit calm, sorry i got the intro mixed up, the true intro is the Russian mob scene. Lenore (Famke Janssen) doesn't have a big part this time around, she is the one that gets killed in the film, so instead of being taken, the ex-wife gets killed, and Mills is framed for a murder he didn't commit. The protagonist picks up food, bagels and as he walked in he noticed Lenore dead on the bed. A pretty bad situation; imagine going in your house and finding the person you love dead, strong scene, probably the best scene in the film because it brings out the emotional side of the man with the skills, Bryan Mills.
I get that the husband was in on it, Stuart (Dougray Scott) had a bad deal going which he managed to botch up, and Lenore paid the price. Mills went and investigated for himself what the cause of the murder was and chases, fights all of them were edited in a speedy fashion. The super speed editing style of film making is not my cup of tea. Taken 3 would've been better if it continued it's beat, the trend from the other previews films. I would've preferred just money laundering, and a little mob action. Instead we got this plot that was very predictable; when the plot revealed that Stuart (Dougray Scott) was the man behind the master plan, at that particular moment in the film, i felt ripped off, i would've rather watched Frozen 1000 times with my two year old, and bealive me when i say Frozen is a great film but watching it everytime my granddaughter comes to vist is getting a bit old. Anything is better than continuing the mess that is Taken 3, a film that lost me at hello. The reason for this mess is the actor Liam Neeson, because he wanted "Not," to be taken in this third installment of the series. Look, the title says it all, Taken. I want the characters to be taken again, and this time make it bigger, and better. Frustrated that know one was taken, it killed me inside. My voice in my head was telling me to stop the film, while the other told me to continue, it will get better. That's like going into a Fast and Furious film, waiting for a car chase, and all you get is a car dealer ship being caught in the middle of a gang war. Yeah there are cars, but no racing, or high intense out of control speeding, basically no action inside of the car. The dealer ship was blown up my the mob war, it was a causality of war, but please people be real. The reason you want to see Taken is the part where, wait for it, a bit, more...Someone in the film will get taken, but that never happened. The man with the special skills went deep into cover to prove he did not kill is ex-wife. By the way the plot was so bad, you really did not need a Dotzler (Forest Whitaker) in the film, he's to good of an actor to be brought to the level of garbage that Taken 3 produced.
The next thing i would like to mention is the bad fighting scenes, i mean really, why? did the action scenes have to be shot in your face super fast unrealistic super fast choreography, it made it look like Neeson didn't know how to defend himself or even fight. Choppy editing destroys the films scences, it's the worst action scene since the old 70 films that had no special effects, at least they had some of the choreography down. The film editor should've slowed the action down, make the scene happen by catching wide shots. Sometimes in a scene with multiple bad guys, it can be a bit overwhelming, but with the proper shots, the film fighting scenes can be memorable. Have the camera catch a wide angle shot, so the audience could see the action coming and going. The main problem in this film is the fact that the shots were close up, and fast. The speed and action was bad, choppy, scene one he is elbowing the bad guy in the throat, the next cut was shot fast, the audience did not see or feel the impact. Sometimes when music or shots are cut to perfection and not Taken 3 style you get an epic fighting scene. A good example of this would be Batman Rises a Christopher Nolan film. The Bane and Batman fight was epic, no music, up until he was defeated; the cuts were smooth as a babies butt. Music going with the scene is beautiful, with that being said, this film had some potential but it lost me at hello. The main reason for Lenore to die was because Stuart was mixed in a big money deal with the Russians and his wife got involved, so instead the main villain Stuart decides to play both the Russians and Mills. Have a man that can kill you on site, with his unique set of skills, set him up and all of your problems go away. Nice job to the writing team, i mean the plot made no sense. So your going to set up a guy who used to work for the CIA up. The plot didn't hold, it was weak, a mess and the producers should've made Taken 3 with someone getting taken, at least that is consistent with the title.
Here is how the film should've went, i mean if the formula worked for the other films, why not continue the trend. The huge panda scene in the intro was cool, keep the connection with the characters. Lets say the government, meaning the CIA comes after Mills, but this time takes his friends, maybe the CIA is punishing them for helping Mills in the last two films. Maybe there is a double agent, whatever. Have Mills track the bad guy, if you want a double agent, then do it. Mills begins to help his friends but is focused to much on the mission and neglects his responsibility as a father, his daughter gets in the middle and gets taken while his friend is taken as well by the Russian mob, or whatever mob you want. Anything is better than the mess in Taken 3, it went from potentially being a great trilogy to a badly done, tornado of confusing action scenes and a weak story. The film should've never been done, period. So the main actor says no, and your going to let him get away with it. The main reason why films bomb is because of individuals who think there idea is going to work, so lets go with it, because the star says so. Nope sorry, it's the audience that decides the fate of your movie, not the production team or actors, the audience. Hollywood for some reason thinks the audience are stupid, well the numbers below do not lie. Your precious Taken 3 film bombed, in a big way. Look at the opening weekend and take a glance at the final gross. A very weak opening weekend, the audience spoke, the movie sucked.
Finally a reason to go see other action films, anything is better than Taken 3, sorry folks but the story and action sucked, from fast editing, bad cuts, in your face filming was horrible. Love Liam Neeson, but his "Not to be taken," issue he has in the film is pretty dumb. The main reason to see a Taken film is to see the action, and someone going to be taken, or at least you thought someone was going to be taken. The first film killed it budget wise, 25,000,000 it did OK in the theaters, it grossed about 24,717,037 in the US and world wide it killed as a film, 223,882,658. The second film had a much bigger budget, 45,000,000 a gross of 49, 514,769 opening weekend and again, 373,952,971 world wide. Check out the trend from the first to the second. Taken 3 estimated budget was about 48,000,000, and about 39,201,657 opening weekend in the US. Gross world wide, 89,253,340 the trend went down considerably, meaning the film bombed. The films problems were to big even for the best actor to handle, sometimes when a actor says he or she wants changes, please do not take it to heart, nod and follow through with the main idea, which was a Taken film is all about.
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