User reviews

Let's review.

(Quoting from my IMDb reviews of the first two) Taken 1 was one of those unexpected surprises that keeps the wheels in Tinseltown turning. It turned Neeson, a very competent actor, into filmdom's oldest and newest action hero. A neat trick. It was actually a very well made product and even with all the attention, still under-rated. It was better than people thought.

OK, to be clear. Neeson was not getting any younger and when offered Taken 2, he took it. Sorry for the pun. Taken 2 was not so much a film as an IQ test. If you thought it was in the same class as Taken 1, you failed the test. Sorry. The truth hurts.

To atone for Taken 2, Neeson did the Tombstone flic. It was great and showed the world he was still an A-list actor. Apology accepted.

Hollywood never ever leaves money on the table. Which brings us to Taken 3. Not really a Taken movie, more of what you would expect if they wanted to do a TV series on the Neeson character and they started with a long pilot.

It is much better than Taken 2 but then again so is footage of your dog's birthday party.

It is not bad. Depends on your expectations.

High expectations, you will not be happy.

Bored and want to spend time with Liam?You could do worse.

Taken 3 is a step down from Taken 2, itself a lesser film than the original. But that is to be expected and forgiven. The title could be considered an unimaginative misnomer, but it makes marketing sense.

Aside from the part of Stuart (husband to Famke Janssen's Lenore), the casting is consistent. The addition of Forest Whitaker as a smart cop is for me something of a saving grace since Taken 3 offers up absurdities without question. On reflection, however, the plot has enough coherence to do the trilogy justice. Moreover, it is a joy to see Liam Neeson in this role again.

The director Olivier Megaton has an irksome penchant for frenetic, up-close, disorienting action sequences whereby shots are rarely longer than two seconds. He was a little better in this regard for Taken 2, which had the benefit of superior choreography.

Another personal point of contention is the casting of Sam Spruell as the top Russian villain. He has not an imposing physical constitution and quite frankly brings to mind Jim Carrey, who sported the same haircut in the Dumb and Dumber movies. Not at all what I want in a villain.

I generally enjoy the films I see, and this one—notwithstanding the negatives—is no exception. However, I would not recommend it for people who are more stern in matters of taste.

Liam Neeson returns to the role of Bryan Mills, a government operative with a "particular set of skills", who gets framed for the murder of one of his nearest and dearest - - I don't do spoilers, but the trailer neatly does: thanks a bunch trailer! Knowing his innocence, and not taking any s**t from anyone, Mills goes on the run to get to the bottom of who framed him and make them pay. Hindering Mills more than helping him is police chief Franck Dotzler (Forest Whitaker) who is not only dogged in his pursuit of Mills as the key suspect but also extremely smart, trying to piece together the complex three-way relationship between Mills, his ex-wife Lenore (Bond-girl Famke Jansson) and her current husband Stuart (MI-2's Dougray Scott). Staying just one step ahead of the pursuing cops, Bryan's focus rapidly turns to his daughter Kim Bauer - oh, sorry, wrong franchise - Kim Mills (Maggie Grace) and keeping her safe from the bad guys.

Taken 2 was an energetic roller-coaster of a thriller also directed by Olivier Megaton (note: not his name at birth!) and to give Taken 3 a bit of credit parts of this film - following a painfully slow start with a lot of wordy exposition - live up to popcorn-munching past glories. Some of the lines - especially those of the whip-smart Dotzler - are entertaining. And, in particular, Neeson does a very amusing variant of his famous 'telephone answering message' at the denouement of the film. Apart from a damp squib of a final scene (probably hastily written as they were in the pub) the script by the same Taken team of Luc Besson and Robert Mark Kamen is passable.

In general though, this film is all over the place.

Editing is of the frenetic Bourne variety but not to the same standard: a specific and horrible example is an early car chase which is almost incoherent in the way it is staged and cut together. And whilst a lot of the staged violence in the first two films was over-the-top escapism, some of the action in this film makes no logical sense whatsoever: I could perhaps believe that body used as a shield might stop a handgun bullet - but a high powered sub-machine gun? Please!

To top this off, two separate incidents with Mills in exploding cars simply defy any possible suspension of disbelief: this was more like Neeson in a film remake of the "indestructible" Captain Scarlett TV series than a supposedly realistic film.

This may be a personal view, but I have a long-standing loathing of the movie trait of bumping off a key character at the start of a sequel after you, as the viewer, have invested the emotional energy in the previous film rooting for them to survive. (Alien 3 is probably the most heinous example of this crime, with the first-reel death of the little girl 'Newt'). Adding a final-reel tragic twist (as in Skyfall, or The Amazing Spiderman 2) is fine in my book. But this particular type of cheap storytelling trick just leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

So go and see Taken 3 if you are happy to park your brain at the door and buy a bumper box of popcorn, but this is far from a classic and is a particularly stark coming down to movie-earth for me two days after watching the brilliant "Whiplash".

(If you enjoyed this review please see my other reviews at bob-the-movie-man.com and enter your email address to receive future posts. Thanks).

This is my biggest guilty pleasure of all time, I know this film is God awful, from the directing to the writing and the stereotypical villain but I honestly don't care it was just popcorn entertainment and seeing Liam Neeson as Bryan Mills is always good. The plot of this film is basically the plot of The Fugitive. This film is so bad it's good and that's why I give this film 6/10.

Spectacular and moving following starred by the retired CIA operative Mills (Liam Neeson) with plenty of action-packed , thrills , suspense , violence and high body-count . This is a nice sequel released six years after the first , here Liam Neeson returns as ex-covert operative Bryan Mills, whose long awaited reconciliation with his ex-wife Lenore (Famke Janssen married to financer Stuart St. John : Dougray Scott ) is tragically cut short when she is brutally murdered . Consumed with rage, and framed for the crime, he goes on the run to evade the relentless pursuit of the CIA, FBI and the police (law enforcement : Forest Whitaker , Don Harvey , Dylan Bruno) . For one last time, Mills must use his "particular set of skills," to track down the real killers, exact his unique brand of justice, and protect the only thing that matters to him now - his daughter. Meanwhile , his daughter Kim (Maggie Grace) is pregnant and really affected for the killing . Shortly after , Mills is rescuing his daughter from the vicious killers . Then , Bryan enlists his daughter to help him and attempts to clear his name and he swears revenge and retaliation against the murdererers . He confronts his nasty enemies in order to find it out and is forced to once again take up violent means to survive . Mills takes the law on his own hands and acting as a merciless revenger . As he faces off a feared villian called Oleg Malinkov (Sam Spruell) , an ex-soldier who was in the Russian army when they invaded Afghanistan . First, they took his daughter. Now, they're coming for him. It Ends Here. They want revenge, They chose the wrong guy. This time, they come for him.

Nail-biting and extremely violent film with a phenomenal Liam Neeson as an implacable avenger daddy .This stirring film contains intrigue , thrills, chills, frenetic action, shootouts , long run time car pursuits , car crashes , and violent fights . From start to finish the noisy action and fast movement are unstopped . Liam Neeson acting as hard-rock , two-fisted retired agent is top-notch , doing all his own fight sequences for the movie , he is the wronged father who must lay his life on the line to protect his intimate family against time and an army of ominous Russian mobsters . Being well accompanied by Maggie Grace as daughter and Famke Janssen in a brief acting as his ex-wife , repeating efficiently their previous roles . Secondary cast is frankly good, such as : Forest Whitaker , Dougray Scott , Sam Spruell , Don Harvey ,David Warshofsky , Jon Gries , and Leland Orser , among others . Nice cinematography by cameraman Eric Kress , using Steadicam and zooms with numerous locations from Los Angeles . The musician Nathaniel Mechaly creates a thrilling , moving soundtrack fitting to frantic action . Lavishly produced by the successful French producer and director Luc Besson from his production company Eurocorps . The trilogy is formed by ¨Taken 1¨ (2008) by Pierre Morel with Maggie Grace , Xander Berkeley , Holy Valance , Katie Cassidy ; in which a gang of human traffickers abduct Kim who barely has time to call her dad and give him information about an Albanese kidnapper and then Bryan seeks vendetta . ¨Taken 2¨ (2012) by Oliver Megathon with D.B. Sweeney ,Luke Grimes , Jon Gries , Rade Serbedzija , set in Istanbul in which Bryan and Lenore are abducted by the Albanian father of a kidnapper Mills killed while rescuing his daughter. And this final "Taken 3" movie in the trilogy, at least this is what is expected at the time of production and release . This trilogy was shot as an R-rated film, but edited down to a PG-13 for its theatrical reléase .

The flick was compellingly directed by Oliver Meghaton who had previously directed other nice action films, such as ¨Taken 2¨, ¨Transporter 3¨ with Jason Statham , ¨The red siren¨ with Asia Argento and ¨Colombiana¨ with Zoe Saldana , also produced by Luc Besson . Megaton was formerly a graffiti artist and took his name from his birthday : the 6th of August 1965 is the 20th anniversary of the dropping of the Hiroshima A-bomb . Rating : 6.5/10 . Better than average sequel , well worth seeing . The picture will appeal to explosive action fans and Liam Neeson fans .

For the fans of Liam Neeson, a good treat to watch. For others just another predictable action flick. From the start we have actors putting on a show with guns and muscles, with beautiful cars and many amazing street scene's depicting LA, this is an amazing third for a franchisee. What i loved the most was the introduction, where perfect shot photograph's of the most loved city capturing the night lights were displayed. On the negative side, the cameras were shot at a very close angle, the plot had not enough depth and was very predictable just like its antecedent. Hope everyone enjoys this one for a first film of the year.

Bryan Mills, this guy just can't get a break. Ultimately we can say this guy is bad luck Brian.

I have a few questions for the plot, most important is, where did the boyfriend of the daughter go, for the whole movie?Other than that you can not say that the movie is bad, however is not a plot masterpiece.

This movie is kinda indifferent towards itself. Nelson has to use his "skills" one more time, we see action, explosions and naked ladies.

However the feeling that this movie is made for profit does not leave us, during the whole cinematic experience. The movie feels empty, both of fun and development.

The best thing about this is probably Nelson, who at this age still can look as bad ass as ever.

Final judgment: enjoyable, but don't have big expectations.

One of the worst movie editing I've ever seen in my life for an action movie. That killed the movie for me. I think they should just withdraw Taken 2 and Taken 3 and admit that they should have stopped at the first one.

This movie was so boring, and when you expected to see some action scenes, you were getting yourself in the paranoid mind of a director who wanted to experiment on the poor audience. My eyes still hurt from the crappy editing of this movie.

Guys please stop here, enough, no more Taken sequels. With each one of them you're killing the hype that the first one created.

Taken 3 continues with the story of Bryan Mills(Liam Neeson). Bryan's ex-wife, Lenore St. John(Famke Janssen) is murdered. The law enforcement authorities suspect that Bryan is the one who murdered her. Now, it is up to Bryan to evade the cops led by Franck Dotzler(Forest Whitaker), find his ex-wife's true killers to clear his name & protect his daughter, Kim Mills(Maggie Grace).

Taken 3 is an action packed & thrilling movie. The action sequences are tense, edge of the seat & have been superbly crafted. Taken 3 is better than Taken 2(2012) but, doesn't quite reach the heights of Taken(2008). The chase sequences are breathtaking, especially in the climax of the film. A note on the performances. Liam Neeson is outstanding as Bryan Mills. Forest Whitaker is great as Franck Dotzler. Famke Janssen is impressive as Lenore St. John. Maggie Grace is spectacular as Kim Mills. Grace's performance is one of the highlights of the film. Dougray Scott is good as Stuart St. John. Taken 3 is a must watch for action movie buffs & fans of the Taken franchise. The series ends with a bang. You will not be disappointed.

Nearly seven years after the first film became a surprise hit, we are onto the second Taken sequel. While the story lines might be getting thinner, the fun and excitement is still there, for the most part. The film is certainly not the best of the series, but in my opinion it is a step up from Taken 2. The Following is my review of Taken 3.

Luc Besson and Robert Mark Kamen are both back for this sequel. Both of these writers also wrote the first and second films of this series. While no one is actually Taken in this film, all the characters we are use to seeing are back. This time around Bryan Mills(Liam Neeson) is accused of murdering his ex-wife, and of course he will not stop until he finds out who set him up. The story is actually pretty good and with some fabulous acting the down time early in the film moves by nicely. The film also features some nice plot twists that add an element that usually is not in these Taken films. While I must admit the ideas are getting old, the execution here is overall very good. Besson and Kaem do another good job of writing a Taken film.

The film was directed by Olivier Megaton, who also directed Taken 2. His shooting style of somewhat shaky camera nature is off putting though. The bigger action scenes with the car chases just don't look that well in motion, and this time around it seems they used some extra CG to scale down the budget. This makes for less beautiful action sequences. The hand to hand combat action scenes though are shot amazingly and are a big highlight of the film. As I mentioned above the film is slow in spots, but that slowdown is at the beginning of the film as they are building up the story. With fantastic actors like Liam Neeson, Forest Whitaker, Jon Gries, David Warshofsky, Leland Orser, and many others, the acting aspects of the film really hold the film together. Overall, Megaton does a good job on this film, but the bigger action sequences just don't look as well as they have in the past.

The film was composed by Nathaniel Mechaly who has scored all of the Taken films. His work in this film is actually very good. A nice step up from the score in the previous Taken film. When the action hits so does this score. It really draws you into the film in ways films in this general generally don't. The depth on this score by Mechaly is great and really a fun score all around.

In closing, this Taken film was billed as the final film of the franchise, but I highly doubt this series will end now. As long as there is money to be made, and as long as Liam Neeson wants to keep making them, they will likely keep milking this series. The film is not bad, and while it is not the best of the series and the ideas are getting worse, this film in my opinion is better than Taken 2. Fans of the series, like myself, will ignore the critics trashing this film and go see it anyway. Frankly, this is the best idea. The major critics always love trashing films like this, so their opinions are useless. The film is a good fun adventure and is well worth the price of admission.

7.4/10

3 stars might be a little harsh seeing as I did enjoy this film, but I enjoyed it for all the wrong reasons. Seemed like a movie made by idiots for idiots. Anyone who is mildly intelligent will find it laughable.

Where do I start, the way this film was shot was poor at best, no scene lasted longer the 3 minutes to try and achieve the same relentless pace we enjoyed from the first Taken movie. This was even worse during any action sequence where there would be about 20 different shots in a space of 30 seconds showing pretty much the same event from pointless angles.

The dialogue, so cheesy, they put in every cliché line from any action movie you can think of, one dimensional characters sounding like idiots. There was a moment in this film where Mills plugs in a USB into a LAPD computer and the computers voices says "You are currently accessing the LAPD hidden files" just in case people in the cinema missed this.

This movie treats its audience like they are slow, and I feel you actually have to be to enjoy it for what it is. Some of the actions sequences were so unrealistic even a 9 your boy would find it a push to believe let alone us adults. Poor way to end a dying trilogy. Hopefully it will now stay dead.

In the beginning, former special forces expert Bryan Mills (Liam Neeson) found that his daughter was taken in Paris while, in the sequel, he himself was taken in Istanbul. Clearly Neeson took a bit of persuading to play the role a third time, but it would appear that three factors persuaded him: first, he didn't want to do any travelling this time (so all the shooting -in both senses of the word - is in the overly-familiar Los Angeles where he goes "down the rabbit hole"); second, apparently he didn't think anyone should be taken this time (and the writers obeyed the injunction until near the end when they just couldn't resist any more); and third, he wanted the money.

This is a movie which divides the critics and the public: the former have been very condescending about it but the later enjoy Mills using his special skills again and again (and you can't really blame them). The bad guys here are (mostly) Russians who have terrible accents and awful clothes (especially underwear), but it is always a pleasure to see Forest Whitaker (an intelligent member of the LAPD who knows the significance of a warm bagel). The tag line in the advertisements for "Taken 3" is "It ends here" and I think that would be a sensible decision (although I wouldn't guarantee it).

Hollywood has been bitten by the sequel/prequel bug. Its the new money-minting trend in Hollywood. But audiences like me don't care as long as we see our favorite stars kicking some ass. I am a big fan of Liam Neeson and it goes without saying that I have loved him since I have seen Taken. So yes, I would love more and more movies like that even though they are brainless. Taken 2 was alright for me, though it did not live up to the first one (how many of them live up to the originals anyway). This time, the makers have decided to end it with a third one.They make it clear on the poster, "It ends here". It does end, but its just not a 'Taken' film. It is just another action movie.

This movie is about Bryan Mills (Neeson) taking on the people who kill his wife as the police chase him. I personally expected a thread from old movies that connects to the events happening in this movie. But apart from emotional ones, there are none. Of course the second movie had its on villain-revenge saga which was a result of first one. So a same theme would have made this predictable. But then again its Taken franchise and its Liam Neeson. So, the audience would have cared less. But this time Taken 3 turns out to be just another action movie which did not have to be a part of Taken legacy. There are some well shot action sequences as usual. But the intensity and the suspense part is not up to the mark.

Liam Neeson at his age still shows he is the boss when it comes to this kind of action movies. However that's what he has been doing in the recent years. Maggie Grace continues her panicked face daughter role. Forest Whitaker could have had a better scope than just eating bagels. Dougray Scott and Sam Spruell are in their usual type cast roles. The star cast could have been strengthened to give this trilogy a grand ending.

I am rating the movie high because I love Liam Neeson. But this could have been better, the director and writer could have taken their time and ended it in style.

You get to see more Liam Neeson doing what Liam Neeson does best. Support cast have their spotlight time and an overall fun time is had by all.

Only real problem is that the story is very contrived with no real point. The bad guys exist solely to provide character development for our main characters. The bad guys are just as bad as they need to be but no more.

I was hoping we'd see a Hannibal Lecter caliber character by this point but...meh. Not that the actors that played them did a bad job, I just wish it'd been better written.

In an attempt to make a proper franchise, like the iconic Die Hard or the more recent The Expenables, the third installment attempts to improve itself from the b-style action movie that became an unexpected hit, but unlike The Expenables 3, it does this without being an over inflated hot mess. It moves away from the one hit pony of the "particular set of skills" speech that made Bryan Mills an upcoming icon, just slightly enough without completely selling out.

It caters more to it's shinning star, Liam Neeson and the type of thinking man's action hero type he's been popularizing since the first Taken.

This time around, Brian Mills has to deal with his ex-wife Lenore, played once again by Famke Janssen, being taken for the very last time. He's framed for her murder and Mills must hunt for the real killer and keep his daughter from being taken again, while being hunted himself by the LAPD lead by Forest Whitaker.

As the hunt happens we get to know Mills just a little bit more just like a good sequel should.

It's action packed, and it's about watching him work as a seasoned spy with his team of friends that have made appearances in the other films. It's also about how he oddly balances this life with the relationship of his daughter whose getting to use to this.

Hopefully, this will not be the last we see of the franchise's new direction

At First When I saw the reviews on Rotten Tomatoes and a few on IMDb, critics and people were giving Taken 3 a negative review and boasting about how bad it is and that they're should be an end to the Taken Series. Being a Liam Neeson Fan I still decided to go see the movie. Let Me tell you they're are a few vague scenes but the movie with a good cast has turned out to be fine totally opposite as too what the critics are telling us. I cannot understand how it's directing is incoherent, as said by the people. Liam Neeson being an experienced actor knows what he's doing. But then everybody has his own opinion. So in opinion, go out there and watch Taken 3; trust me it's great.

wait!! anyone thinks 10 stars is biased, ludicrous or, excuse my Welsh, plain mental, i'll thank thee, here, with me brook for the now-part no disputant. indeed entreat, at this your servant's hour-in juncture, nothing less than a whimsical forbearance. and why not! i am in all sooth, dear brethren, thus far unqualified, of critique embryonic, parsimoniously previous, but at the risk of committing unto such, i guess the word be 'foeticide', i have marked of late a weight of groans and growing moans from certain pundit quarters regarding a fare and pretty gamut of the motion picture's elements, and yet so far, that's right, as i, with Taken 3, am yet "scarce half made up!" (note the quote?) i say "pish-tush and Pooh, you detractors** you!" because (again, only SO FAR, mark you) i think it's fopping' great! xx (** for 'detractors' read 'miserable, talentless nonces')