Friday, May 8, 2015

Movie: Taken 3(2015) – My opinion

!!!Spoilers!!!



The first Taken movie was a great movie so let's see if the third film in the franchise can hold up to it.

Bryan Mills is accused of a murder he didn't commit and have to use his particular set of skills to clear his name.

Liam Neeson (known for his work on Schindler's List, Batman Begins, Darkman) is back in the role as Bryan Mills and he's sadly not as good in this as earlier. It's not his acting, the acting is good but the fighting and so on. It's kinda slow and he's age is starting to show. This might be because of the editing of the movie but I'm really afraid it is because of Liam Neeson's age. I'm really hoping I'm wrong about the age thing though. Maggie Grace (known for her work on Faster, Knight & Day, Lockout) is also back for her role as Kim Mills who is the daughter of Bryan Mills. She is also the one who got taken in the first movie. Character-vise she is kinda flat. She's loyal to her father and so on. Nothing really out of the ordinary and she doesn't really grow as a character in the movie. She is ok and nice to have there but nothing special. Dougray Scott (known for his work on Hitman, Ripley's game, Mission: Impossible 2) plays Stuart St. John who is the guy that's together with Bryan Mills ex-wife. Another character that has no surprises to him. You know what he is going to be. Partially because of the smug look he has on his face all the time. If you see it you will know what i mean. In Dougray Scott's defense he is really great at the smug-face. He got that perfectly down. It's just a little do much in the movie. Bryan Mills ex-wife, Lenore St. John, is again played by Famke Janssen (known for her work on X-Men, Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters, Goldeneye). She hasn't much to do in this movie and i think her character is really weak. Minor spoiler, she's thinking about leaving Stuart St. John, which is ok but she keeps talking to her ex about it and it's clear that she want's to get back with him. That kinda says that she thinks it because she know that Bryan Mills is going to be there for her. In my opinion i would have felt that she would have been a lot stronger if she left Stuart St. John by herself without going for getting back with Bryan Mills. New to this movie we get Forest Whitaker (known for his work on The Last King of Scotland, Phone Booth, Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai) who is a great actor and easily the best one in this movie. He plays Inspector Frank Dotzler who is hunting Bryan Mills for the murder he didn't do. Good enough character but that is more because of Forest Whitaker than the character itself.

The story is nothing new. Bryan Mills is framed for a murder and he needs to clear his name. It's been done for forever. This time though, no one get really taken. It's just about the murder and i don't think that was a good choice. The movie-series is called Taken, why isn't anyone getting taken? They might have gotten away with it if they had a really good story but no. The story is maybe worse than Taken 2, and that's really sad. I hoped this would be the one that took this series up to the level of the first one again. I mentioned earlier that Liam Neeson looked old in his moves but that could be because of editing and so on. What i meant about that is that the editing in this movie is not good at all. It's cut by someone who is way to cutter-happy. During action and fights they cut to another angle about ever one and a half second. It's completely insane. If you see this movie, think about the cuts. There are so many it felt like a massacre. There is also some camera-shake in there. Some people add camera-shake because they say it feels more intense and so on. Guess what, they are wrong and i don't believe the reason at all. Usually they use fast cuts and camera-shake to hide things that doesn't look good on film. They sure hid things here. You can't see or understand what is happening when it goes on. Look at a movie like The Matrix. No camera-shake because they did everything right and didn't take shortcuts. They want you to see their work and what is happening and this is not the case with Taken 3. The directing is also questionable in my eyes. I mentioned Dougray Scott's smug-face. Someone had to say to him that he needed to do that all the time. Someone had to say that everything looks good and that is the director(the director is Olivier Megaton who is known for directing Taken 2, Colombiana, Transporter 3).

This is sadly not worth your time unless you like predictable dry action. There is really nothing special here. If you really want to see Liam Neeson in anything then re-watch the first Taken movie instead. Weak characters, mediocre acting from almost all, a bad story and some bad editing makes this movie a real disappointment. It's almost 2 hours long to that's a little to long for a straight up action movie. I don't think they are going to make a fourth Taken movie but if they do i hope they go back to more of the style as the first one.

TL;DR

Sadly this is not worth your time. Dry action, bad editing, bad characters. Predictable story and no surprises at all. Forest Whitaker is good but not good enough to save this movie. If you want a Taken-movie or a Liam Neeson movie watch the first Taken movie instead of this.


My question for you:
Would you like to see Taken 4 movie?
What is your favorite Liam Nesson movie?


Please leave a comment(negative,positive, suggestions or/and answers).

Until next time, stay fresh.

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