Reloading - Taken Too Far?

It’s time for another review here on Reloading. This week, Taken 3, reviewed via DVD copy because when it came out, I never got a chance to see it in theaters. Again, I’m still playing catch-up so feel free to badger me about it if you like. 

I’m not going to mince words. For as much as I love Liam Neeson from Fallout 3 to Schindler’s List, I didn’t care for Taken 2. The concept was silly. The solution to their problem could have inevitably caused more problems. And I still didn’t give two shits about the wife, regardless of how much the movie insisted I should. First she killed Cyclops and Professor X in X-Men. Then she left Liam Neeson to be with some new guy for the entirety of this series. And most recently, she starred in that crap Netflix show that’s just a bad Twilight rip-off, which is impressive to be a rip-off of Twilight that’s actually worse than Twilight.

But ignoring all those atrocities and giving Taken 3 chance, Taken 3 was a mostly solid film with a few minor hiccups here or there that are easy to ignore because unlike Taken 2, Taken 3 is actually pretty damn fun with a nice twist nearing the end that isn’t too surprising given the fact there was an actor change to make a specific character appear to be more of an asshole. Long-winded sentences aside, let’s get into the meat-and-potatoes of Taken 3. The plot is that Liam Neeson is framed for murder and must evade the cops, prove his innocence, and find the real culprit.

The victim was his wife. And thus, Taken 3 has earned its first gold star for removing the least interesting character of the series thus far. Granted, not what I was aiming for, but I guess it gets the job done. But just because I don’t like the MCU version of Hawkeye doesn’t mean I want him dead, Disney (hint, hint). Liam Neeson is caught at the scene of the murder and he is made to be the prime suspect. Rather than question him, the cops immediately move to arrest him (which isn’t too far from how cops react nowadays. If you’re black at least).

But rather than agree to this and call in a lawyer who could easily prove his innocence six-ways from Sunday, Liam decides to do what he always does and use his special set of skills to escape the cops and go into hiding, possibly endangering lives of countless innocent people. Okay, Taken 3, I’m taking that gold star back for now. But luckily for Liam, there is an officer attached to the case that is smart enough to see the obvious frame-job evidence on this murder. Unluckily for the said officer played by Forrest Whitaker, Liam isn’t in the mood for talking, but a mood for stabbing, shooting, and pretty much doing what he always does in these films.

Eventually Liam enlists the help of his associates we’ve seen throughout the films, but they’ve done nothing until now. They manage to get a message to his daughter, who is now pregnant, and bring her in to keep her safe. They also bring in the current husband of the deceased wife who it turns out is the one behind the murder. But he claims it’s all about a bad business deal with some Russians (when in doubt, just blame Russians). And his story seems legit enough where Team Liam buys it and decides to kill the Russians to keep his daughter safe.

The twist? The Russians may have been part of a bad business deal, but they were hired by the husband to kill the wife so that he could take in all the insurance money. They were both double-crossed and now Liam (now teaming with Whitaker) work to catch the husband before he flees the country with Liam’s daughter. And, surprise, good guys win, bad guy loses, and none of this brings back the dead wife or restores order to the world by-and-large.

You know, I remember how much I loved the first movie for doing so many things right. Older-aged action hero fighting obviously evil terrorists doing horrible things to people. The whole fact that it took place in another country with different rules and beliefs on the issue. The fact that we were actually scared if the daughter would be able to be rescued or if she would even be alive. But since then, the series has fallen into the “series” trap of Liam always being right, good, and the symbol of justice. It’s become another Saturday morning cartoon in terms of writing.

Granted, it’s still fun and this new installment managed to be more interesting than I initially expected a third movie in this trilogy to be (please only be a trilogy). But that’ll only go so far. Why not do a new series with a new protagonist but still doing the same kind of thing as this? Oh, wait, Denzel Washington already sort of did that. Okay, fine, but can we all at least agree that this was a satisfying enough ending that we really don’t need more in this series? I’d rather see it end on this high-note than continue with less impressive films being spewed out every year or two until Liam Neeson is dead. Or just a skeleton they animate using wires.

Please come back again when we’ll review another out-of-date movie because, hey, we’re still playing catch-up. Be sure to like, share, comment, or subscribe to our blog. Be sure to check out the YouTube channel. We love you guys and we hope to see more of you soon!