Review of Taken 3 (2014) by Dawdlingpoet — 28 Nov 2021

This is an action thriller film, the third in the trilogy and as such it is similar to the previous films, so if your familiar with them then you'll know what to expect, such as betrayal and deception, fugitives and hostage situations.

It starts off as quite a slow moving, yet tense, although the plot pace does very much increase after the first twenty minutes or so. I thought it seemed a somewhat gritty and slightly sinister seeming film, with viewers clearly getting the feeling that something big is coming their way but its not entirely clear quite what it is. I noticed quite early on that there was a lot of shaky and jerky camerawork, which on one hand I suppose added to the sense of things being on a knife-edge, of things being quite unstable.

Following on from previous Taken films, Mills utters the words - '...I don't know why, I don't who but im going to find them' regarding the perpertraitors of the murder and with an element of somewhat overly enforced melodrama by way of female characters putting on a 'tear-fest' of sorts and quite a strong use of orchestrated music during the more emotional moments, you could say its relatively cliched but it didn't entirely put me off.

I was keen to watch this after hearing that Forrest Whitaker is in the cast, as I'm quite keen on a number of films he's been involved with. In this film, he plays Franck Dotzler, the head of the police investigation team dealing with him. He does well in playing a strategic, deep thinking person - someone almost as determined to get his man as Neeson is. Of course Liam Neeson plays the main role, the reprisal of retired CIA agent Bryan Mills, who is as rebellious and, as I say, intent on finding the guilty party and protecting himself and his family, as ever. Bryan's ex-wife, Lenore St. John, is played by Famke Janssen, while other cast members include Maggie Grace as Bryans daughter, Kim Mills, and Dougray Scott who plays Stuart St. John. The acting mostly seemed fine, although I did think that perhaps Famke Janssen was a little bit over the top in terms of sentimentality. I suppose you could argue that Liam Neeson, if anything, slightly over-does the whole whispering talk but it didn't ruin my enjoyment of the film in general.

There are numerous chase scenes and some fairly impressive explosions and the sort as well. Plot wise and in terms of the atmosphere and so on, I found myself thinking that it reminded me somewhat of a series of the hit US drama/thriller TV show 24. Content wise, the film contains some partial nudity and mild sex references and there is action based violence, mostly including gunfire, although there are torture related scenes as well, which some may find quite disturbing. There are ocassional instances of strong language, although it isn't littered with graphic swear words and of course in general it has quite a strong feeling of threat and danger present for the majority of the film, which could frighten younger viewers. The film has been given a 12 rating in the UK, although I believe there is an extended cut version available which has been given the higher 15 rating, partially due to stronger language, so thats probably worth bearing in mind if your contemplating watching the film with younger kids around (check if its the extended version or not).

At the end of the day, this really is nothing particularly special but its quite watchable and entertaining, even intriguing at times, regardless. Its an easy watch - you don't need to be paying very close attention to whats said and what goes on all the time as it isn't really a complicated storyline, which is good if your just looking for a light watch. Given this is the 3rd in a trilogy of films, I'd say its not too bad - its not great but its ok.

Yes, I'd recommend it. Its quite watchable and entertaining and is tense and somewhat intriguing at times, although it does suffer from featuring a bit too much in the way of cliches and unnecessarily melodramatic moments and I found the shaky/jerky camerawork to be off putting. The cast is good and I thought it was an alright easy watch, so I suppose I would recommend it on that basis but don't expect it to be a remarkably good watch or anything, just an average Hollywood action film, with some decent chase scenes. If it weren't for the cliche elements and the overly-melodramatic side to it, I'd likely have given it a 4 star rating.