tooken

Very flat. It feels like a script that was written in a week, and god knows Megaton has trouble with even the best material.

It isn't egregiously offensive, but absolutely nothing on screen makes an impression. Probably would have been better if Xander Berkeley wasn't replaced by Dougray Scott.

It's not A Good Day To Die Hard bad, but it's close. It was difficult to stay awake for the first hour and the second is mostly nonsense. I liked "don't be a pessimist" , the liquor store shootout and the car taking out the plane. That's about it. And I liked Taken 2 a lot!

This was really horrible but pretty entertaining on a so bad it's good level. The dialogue was absolutely atrocious, it was honestly one of the worst screenplays that has graced the screen in recent years and the direction is choppy and has a horrible direct to video feel. Still, like I said, it was entertaining and definitely something you can laugh at.

C-

Awful. Its biggest crime is that it is deathly boring. Nothing even happens for almost an hour because the writers seem to think people are actually invested in these characters' personal lives. It's badly directed, the action sequences are dull and almost every actor is phoning it in - also Forest Whitaker's character is completely pointless (and he's awful, but that's a given). The script is hilarious and the dialogue sounds like it was written by someone who isn't a native English speaker. I've never understood why of all the fun Liam Neeson movies out there, Taken (which is one of the blandest) was the one that spawned a franchise. D+

TAKEN 3

Liam Neeson is back and does his role consistently again. When he is on screen and doing his thing the film works 100%. When the film is cutting to Whitaker and dwelling on the cop investigation it crawls. The film could have been cut to a quick 99 minutes instead of dragging. Also, the main issue wight the film is the editing. It's quick cut, one shot for one second and quick cut for a majority of the film . I honestly got a slight headache with the camera shot starting wide then one shot closer, one shit closer, one shot closer new angle throughout the film. It was verging on me wanting to close my eyes and just listen to it. I would still be game for a Taken 4 but only if it has him going after either North Koreans or Islamic fanatics.

Grade C

Taken 3 was really quite stupid. And it feels sooooooo cheap! Now if you're an independent film struggling for financing like The Guest (couldn't help but go for this comparison as they were the last two movies I watched) then I can let this slide. But this is a big budget, successful action movie franchise. I guess the only thing I can think of is because there were so many different action set pieces that to do them all they had to skimp on the state of the art effects? Because some of the action scenes really do look like they're from a direct-to-dvd action movie. Granted I'll say it's like the ones from a bigger company like, say, Universal, but still not really like they're from a big Hollywood film. The whole thing just felt cheap to me. I can't really explain it. I was so glad they actually went for a different story this time instead of a re-tread like the second one but they really waste it. And towards the end I just didn't care anymore. Hell, maybe it was even in the middle. It was somewhat entertaining at times but is fairly poor over all. It really has me wanting Neeson to take a break from these action movies. They're all basically the same. It was cool seeing him become an unlikely action hero but now I feel like he's wasting his talent doing the same movies. Unless it would somehow turn out good I hope this really is the last in this series. I will say his buddies are utilized more this time around though. So that's one good thing. Certainly more than they were before (aka not at all).


5/10 ( C )

This was shitty, but somewhat entertaining in a really laughable way. I recently rewatched the last two not too long ago and while Taken 2 is a boring rehash of the first movie it's atleast more competently made than this IMO. The action here is beyond terrible with shaky cam galore and awful CGI enhanced carnage. I still don't understand the point of the Malankov guy other than leading up to the so called BIG twist which was so lame btw. Of course they would cast Dougray Scott in this movie since he is the most villain esque looking guy ever.

Now, I was looking forward to seeing what they would do Forest Whitaker in this movie, because I actually liked the Fugitive perspective hinted at in the trailer. Unfortunately, his character had nothing to do in this movie except say corny ass lines and have weird eccentric ticks for rubberbands and chess pieces. Also, what the fuck was up with all the stupid references to Bagels in this damn movie ? That shit got on my nerves quick, and I don't know if it was just me, but Liam Neeson is really starting show his age now. When you see him jogging it's almost impossible to comprehend how in the hell he outran all those cops in that footchase. I mean seriously he looked tired as shit, but I guess I shouldn't complain about that little thing when he was pretty much indestructible in this movie aswell.

lol what did you all expect

eah this was whatever during the first 30 mins, but after Liam gt into bad ass mode, the movie trned out to be really fun.

B

this is the epitome of b-grade action dtv storytelling.

i'm sad it still managed to make near 90m based on serving that shit up. was taken 2's bs not enough?

Taken 3

Another disappointing action thriller. This could have been good, and part of me is angry that a story such as this (his ex-wife's murder; not the police/Russians nonsense) was wasted with incomprehensible fight and action sequences and shitty, unrealistic dialogue delivered by plain bad actors (yes, including Neeson). Let's start with the fights, actually, any scene where there is a chase or a fight; there are extreme close-ups of everything and they have 2 shots per second. And on top of that, there's the shaky cam. It's impossible to understand what's going on. Complete garbage. All of the fights and action scenes were just ruined by this. The first one is a chase which starts in Mills' apartment and ends in a garage of a house nearby. It is simply the worst filmed scene I have seen for years. The next is a freeway pile up or some sort (I have no idea as I couldn't tell what was going on). Just terrible.

Dougray Scott somewhat elevated the film when he was on, but it's too little too late. Famke Janssen, Maggie Grace, and Forest Whitaker are atrocious as the supporting cast. But Liam Neeson is also terrible. He just cannot deliver a believable fatherly line. It's as if Megatron (what a fucking name!) was holding a gun to his head in every scene he did with Grace -- it's so forced. Plus, the dialogue is a screaming pile of shit, which doesn't help. The editing is so bad. I understand they had to cleverly chop it up to not make it so obvious that Liam Neeson can't run anymore, but they went too far; chopping it up to create the sense that this is a thrilling film. Don't even get me started on the needlessly convoluted plot involving some Russian pussy and Janssen's new husband.

The best thing about it? The end credits song. Fucking awesome. I need find that one.

D+