Taken 3 (2015) - Theatrical Review

Director: Olivier Megaton

Cast: Liam Neeson, Forrest Whitaker, Maggie Grace, Dougray Scott, Leland Orser
Country: France
Rating: PG-13
Run Time: 108 minutes

There's no clever way to introduce this or fun way to beat around the bush. Therefore, I am just going to get right to it. Taken 3 ends the Taken trilogy on a whimper with the queasiest action scenes yet. It wasn't enough that director Olivier Megaton ruined Transporter 3 back in '08, the man had to get his silky fingers all over Taken 3 and drag it down to the same depths of queasy cam hell. Also, talk about a bad time for third installments lately. The Expendables 3 was an atrocious installment in an otherwise good action franchise that relied upon old fashioned bad ass entertainment. And now we have Taken 3, the final installment in a franchise that started off on fire but has since burnt out to nothing but ashes. It's a shame because even though Taken 3 takes a tired franchise in a fresh direction, the execution is what brings the film crashing down.

"Give me my $20 million, I'm done with this Bryan Mills crap."

Taken 3 places Bryan Mills into the biggest, boldest, and grandest crisis of his life yet. After the events of Taken and Taken 2, Mills continues his life in Los Angeles near his daughter Kim (Maggie Grace) and ex-wife Lenore (Famke Janssen). Kim is grown up now and living with her new boyfriend while Lenore is back with her ex-husband, Stuart (Dougray Scott taking over for Xander Berkeley). When Stuart shows up at Bryan's apartment one day, he tells him to stay away from Lenore in order for him to mend his relationship with her better. Bryan reluctantly agrees and continues on with his day to day life. However, he receives a text from Lenore the next day asking if he can meet up and speak with her. Knowing that Lenore may be in serious turmoil, Bryan agrees to meet her at his apartment. Upon arriving, Bryan finds Lenore dead with her throat slit. The police arrive on the scene at the exact moment and suspect Bryan to be the killer. Therefore, Bryan kicks into fugitive mode, escapes the police, and sets out to find his ex-wife's true killer all while clearing his own name.

Even though Taken 2 was different from Taken, the film rang eerily similar in its motions and events. The sequel showcased both a crucial phone call to a loved one and had one of Bryan's loved ones be taken from him yet again. Many people decried the film as a lazy rehash of the original for these things. Screenwriters Luc Besson and Robert Mark Kamen must have taken this criticism to heart because the two did a fantastic job at taking the franchise in a new direction for its final installment. Instead of telling another story about one of Bryan's loved ones being physically taken from him, Besson and Kamen wrote a trilogy capper that placed their hero in a The Fugitive-type situation where he has to go on the run and clear his name. Not only is Bryan's ex-wife taken from him forever, but his life is essentially taken as well. Audiences love "innocent men on the run" plots because it makes for exciting and engaging entertainment. I love this fresh direction so much and wished that Taken 3 had found a way to deliver on such a premise. But alas, this is what happens when Besson assigns a hack director like Olivier Megaton to a film.

I have written before that the action scenes featured in Megaton films like Transporter 3 and Taken 2 are mediocre and average at best. His action scenes typically feature extreme close ups and rapid cuts, thereby rendering the action visually incoherent. And while I originally thought that the fight scenes in his films were bad, I didn't know how bad Megaton could get until I saw Taken 3. The action scenes in Taken 3 are some of the worst, if not the worst action scenes in cinema history. Megaton takes his rapid cutting and close shooting to a new extreme of awful. As I sat and the watched the film, I consistently thought to myself, "I have no clue what is going on this action scene. I can't tell if Bryan just killed that character or not." Car chases, fist fights, and foot chases are incoherent to the point of nauseaum. The action photography in Taken 3 is so bad, that you could find better photography in a found footage horror film for goodness sakes!

This image is more bad ass as a still than in motion. Trust me.

I only found two slightly cohesive action beats in all of Taken 3's muddled mess. In one action scene, Bryan and a Russian henchman shoot at one another through a rack of wine bottles in a liquor store. The scene makes for some great carnage and features some of the film's only coherent action photography. I also enjoyed the concept behind the film's final action scene in which Bryan must infiltrate a Russian mob boss' penthouse. Even though the photography is awful during the sequence, a few choice moments of violence make it through all of the clutter to deliver some excitement. Bryan has an especially awesome one on one gun fight with the mob boss in his apartment that makes for a cool shootout. 

The Taken franchise is notorious for its violence being neutered upon theatrical release but eventually restored upon home media release. This time around though, I don't know if an unrated cut would make much of a difference. Even if extra moments of violence were added, I don't know if I could catch them amongst the film's many cuts and extreme close ups. It should be noted that Taken 3's violence is shockingly tame as well. I miss the days when we could actually see Bryan shoot a henchman in the face. Now we get a simple cut away and a sound effect letting us know what happened. Oh boy, how exciting.

Liam Neeson seems to be going with the motions more than ever as he nearly reaches the point of self parody with his turn in Taken 3. Neeson's gruff statements and actions seem lazier than ever. It's a damn shame that the great Bryan Mills goes off on such a low note because Mills makes for a great screen character when treated correctly a-la Taken. Returning cast members Maggie Grace, Leland Orser, and Famke Janssen do a fine job as always with respective franchise characters. However, Taken 3 adds a new character dynamic to the film in the form of Inspector Dotzler (Forrest Whitaker). Whitaker plays an Inspector on Mills' case that comes off as a combination between Whitaker's character in The Last Stand and obviously Tommy Lee Jones' character in The Fugitive, a film that was clearly an inspiration on Besson's screenplay. Whitaker's realization of Mills' innocence is entirely predictable and nearly a beat for beat recreation of Jones' realization in The Fugitive. While I commend Besson for adding an inspector dynamic to the film, I decry the man for duplicating The Fugitive beat for beat.

Schindler's List 2: Schindler's Pissed

Taken 3 easily ranks as one of the most disappointing and devastating finales in action history. After the runaway success of Taken and the mediocrity of Taken 2, I had a lot of excitement going into this film. A third film could easily rectify the franchise even if the second installment was weak and tired. But alas, Megaton found a way to make Taken 3 even worse than Taken 2. As a whole, the Taken trilogy is a weak franchise. Individually, each Taken film gets worse than the previous, with the first film being the only excellent installment in the trilogy. Taken 3 is not only the worst installment in the series, but one of the worst installments in any action franchise ever made. The film's incoherent action scenes, predictable villain, and beat for beat recreation of The Fugitive's well known inspector dynamic makes for a truly dreadful viewing experience. Unless something else comes along this year and drops the ball as badly, Taken 3 looks like an early contender for most disappointing action film of 2015. And we're not even two weeks into the new year...

Rating: 4/10 - A dull and dreary finale to a trilogy that simply should have never been a franchise in the first place.

Franchise:
Taken (dir. Pierre Morel, 2008)
Taken 2 (dir. Olivier Megaton, 2012)
Taken 3 (dir. Olivier Megaton, 2015)

Taken: Unrated Cut (2008) - Review

Director: Pierre Morel

Cast: Liam Neeson, Maggie Grace, Famke Janssen, Leland Orser

Country: France

Rating: Unrated

Run Time: 93 minutes

In today's day and age of action cinema, bad ass action icons are no longer the money makers they used  to be. General audiences have drifted towards big budget special effects heavy properties like Transformers, The Avengers, and The Fast and Furious films. The old icons of the 80's no longer pull in box office dollars like they used too. Most of the new films of Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger don't even break even with their budgets. However, one French action film in 2008 seemed to prove that the action icon was not dead yet. Pierre Morel's Taken proved to be a huge hit with audiences as it made $226 million off of a measly $25 million budget.

Besides being a very dramatic, action packed, and body count heavy action film, Taken's key ingredient was star Liam Neeson. At the time of Taken's release, Liam Neeson was not typically known as an action star. Even though he had dabbled in action films like Darkman, Star Wars, and Rob Roy, those were just a few action films amongst Neeson's many dramas, romances, and comedies. But Taken seemed to sky rocket Neeson to action icon status. Since Taken, Neeson has starred in numerous action films including Unknown, Taken 2, The Grey, The A-Team, Non-Stop, Walk Among the Tombstones, and the eventual Taken 3. Liam Neeson helped make Taken a better film by bringing his kindness, charm, and Oscar nominated acting chops to a Steven Seagal / Jason Statham-esque action film produced and written by Luc Besson.

Neeson brings the pain in his breakout action film.

Taken has a fantastic and basic premise that attracts both general audiences and die hard action fans. Bryan Mills is an ex-CIA agent who has quit his job in order to live closer to his daughter. Due to his many years of service, Mills grew distant from his family and eventually lost both his daughter and his wife. Now all alone, Mills makes every effort to reconnect with his daughter Kim (Maggie Grace) and his ex-wife Lenore (Famke Janssen).

When Bryan's daughter goes off to Paris with a friend for vacation, she is quickly kidnapped by sex traffickers. Mills than sets out to Paris to track down the men who took his daughter and rescue her before she is lost forever. In Byran's words, "I will burn down the Eiffel Tower if I have too!"

What works so well for Taken is that it has a basic father/daughter premise that immediately draws you in. No offense to Jason Statham and Steven Seagal, but Liam Neeson comes off better in a film like this because he is such a fantastic actor. Neeson brings an incredible warmth to this film that makes me cheer for him. I want Bryan to reconnect with his daughter so badly because he is a good hearted man who wants to make up for his past mistakes. The film takes this story one step further though by having Kim get kidnapped and sending Bryan on a plane to Paris to kick some major butt. Now the film is a story all about what a father will do to get his daughter back from cruel men. This is a premise that any action or non-action fan can get behind because we get to see a father beat down tons of henchmen and bad guys in the process of trying to rescue his poor daughter. Kudos to Luc Besson for crafting a basic yet engaging action premise.

A Good Day to Die Hard's Radivoje Bukvic fires a gun at Neeson.

Bryan Mills is one of the great cinematic action characters like Casey Ryback in the Under Siege series, James Bond in the James Bond series, Ethan Hunt in the Mission Impossible series, Indiana Jones in the Indiana Jones series, John McClane in the Die Hard series, or Paul Kersey in the Death Wish series. Mills has many great characteristics to him that make him a unique bad ass. I love Mills' meticulousness when it comes to wrapping a present for his daughter. He spends extra time pressing down on the paper to make sure that it wraps perfectly around the square box sized present. I also love Mills' sacrificial nature of quitting his job just so he can live near his daughter to make up for lost time. Neeson knows that he could be off helping the country and making money but chooses to reconcile with his family after so much damage and hurt. How can you not love this character?

It also helps that Bryan Mills is a certified bad ass. Liam Neeson did all of his own stunts for the film and it certainly shows. While the shootouts never reach a John Woo (Hard Boiled, The Killer) level of excellence and the fight scenes never reach a Yuen Woo Ping (Kill Bill, The Matrix) level of perfection, all of the action scenes are just impressive enough to wow any action fan. Neeson brings a hard hitting level of realism with his neck hitting, gun firing, and knife fighting skills. The action scenes aren't shot too terribly but they aren't majestic either.

It's worth noting that Liam Neeson doesn't kick any ass until 40 minutes into the film. I know that is a long wait for some but the dramatic build up makes it all worth it. Once Neeson hops in a taxi cab and starts beating the crap out of a human trafficking spotter, it's non-stop thrills from there. It's important to mention that you must watch the unrated cut (the original French cut to be exact) because the film contains far more violence, gun firing, and a more graphic torture scene. All of these additions push the film into the range of an "R" rating and distant it from its tame "PG-13" Bourne and Bond counterparts. While the film is not exactly "R" rated, the unrated cut restores enough numerous blood spurts and neck snaps to appease even the most hard core action fan.

Neeson guns down a lousy henchman.

There are two action scenes that really stand out to me in this film. The first is when Bryan Mills visits a house filled with sex traffickers. He plays it cool and pretends to be in control of a satellite that is watching the men and forces the men to pay him money in order for him to look the other way. After he has the men pay, he shows them a card that is written in Albanian. When he asks one of them to translate it, the man states, "Good luck." This is just how Mills heard an unknown kidnapper say "good luck" to him on the phone when his daughter was kidnapped. Neeson immediately smashes the man's head into the table and proceeds to kill every man in the house. It's an awesome action scene and makes great use of knives, human shields, and Neeson gunning down bastards dumb enough to take him on.

The other standout action scene is the big finale on the boat. Bryan tracks down his daughter's kidnappers to a large boat floating down a river in Paris. He works his way through the boat taking down as many henchmen as quietly as possible. However, he eventually has to break out the guns and a fantastic shootout ensues. There's some great stuntwork here. My favorite is when Neeson jumps over a couch and fires from below it to take out a guard. There's also a great action beat where Neeson grabs a guard's MP5 and turns it around and fires it through the door into the guard. The action choreographers and screenwriters of Taken were smart to incorporate various action scenes that range from a car chase in a construction sight, a fight scene in a house, a fist fight in a basement, and a shootout on a moving boat. This way, the action is never boring and no scene ever feels exhausting or tiresome.

The most infamous scene in the film is when Bryan picks up the phone and speaks to his daughter's captor. Liam Neeson delivers a chilling and bad ass monolouge that is one of the greatest lines in bad ass cinema. It's more like a paragraph than a one liner, but it's completely unforgettable. In the words of Neeson, "I will look for you. I will find you. And I will kill you."

These guys picked the wrong dad to mess with.

In today's day and age of lengthy films and over long run times, Taken is a breath of fresh air. Clocking in at only 90 minutes, Taken is incredibly brisk and will be over before you know it. I think that Taken is the last truly great EuropaCorp action film. Since Taken, EuropaCorp's quality output has drastically decreased. Their newer films (Transporter 3, From Paris With Love, Taken 2, Colombiana, Lock Out, 3 Days to Kill, etc) are usually low grade to middle grade action films that wish they were as fresh and exciting as older Luc Besson / EuropaCorp productions like Transporter 1 and 2, District B13, Taxi, and Unleashed.

I also have qualms with the fact that we don't see Bryan Mills save any prostitutes other than the ones that lead him to his daughter. Mills could at least alert the police to save these poor girls or to their whereabouts. This especially bugs me at the end of the film when Neeson finally reunites with his daughter on the boat. Even though all of the bad guys are dead and his daughter is in his arms, there are still two other captive girls whose fates are left unexplained. Did Neeson end up saving these girls or were their fates left unexplained due to the film's weak editing? Little things like this heavily affect the movie for me because the film took the time early on to show just how meticulous Bryan Mills is when he wraps a birthday present.

Neeson takes cover behind a poor car.

Even though Taken is not a perfect action film, it is an absolutely awesome one and one of the best contemporary mainstream action films I have seen. Taken is a lot like Die Hard because a lot of non-action fans love the film. This is mostly due to the relatable father / daughter aspect of the story. We don't have Bryan Mills' bad ass skills but we do have the love and care for our daughters and family the same way that Mills loves and cares for his daughter. I think Taken is an excellent screener for father's day if you ask me.

Taken is a solid action film that catapulted Neeson to action icon status overnight. The film benefits from engaging drama, good performances, solid action scenes, and a brisk run time. Neeson proves himself to be today's box office king as far as action icons come. I highly recommend the unrated cut of this film and hope that all action and non-action fans check the film out!

Rating: 9/10 - A rare mainstream action flick that is both fantastic and rewatchable.

Franchise:
Taken (2008, dir. Pierre Morel)
Taken 2 (2012, dir. Olivier Megaton)
Taken 3 (2015, dir. Olivier Megaton)

The Transporter Franchise Returning?

Well this is interesting news. After just having impulsed purchased and watched all of the Transporter films for the first time, Luc Besson and his EuropaCorp group are going to reboot the series and bring it back with a new actor and an origin story as well.

By the sounds of it, they want to call the next film Transporter 4 also. I don't understand the point of casting a new actor, calling it a reboot, but calling it Transporter 4 and than 5 or 6 if it performs well. Also, in the original Transporter films, Frank Martin says that he used to be in the Special Forces. I am going to assume that if they would touch on his origin story they would go here for story material? However, a guy in the army is the furthest thing from a Transporter story though.

Personally, I would love to see Transporter 4 come back and just have Jason Statham in the series again. That to me is the simple solution. However, since Statham is apparently bigger than ever now with franchises like Fast and Furious and Expendables to stick too, nabbing him for this seems unlikely.

I don't think the original three are really good enough for an origin story though. They are just dumb action movies. Sequels that showcase more dumb stories and awesome action seem like the most logical answer to me. Oh well, we'll see how they are.