Taken 3

Watched it tonight and it's another in the never ending line of generic, fun for all the family action films which really hasn't a single original idea or moment. Neeson just looks bored and Maggie Grace once again demonstrates that she has all the charisma of a wet sponge sliding down a bathroom wall, she spends most of the film looking as if she needs the bathroom. The rest of the cast are equally forgettable with Whitaker having that thankless role of playing the least competent cop in the history of cinema, he spends a number of scenes twiddling with a chess piece, the kind of forced symbolism that makes you wish you were watching a smarter film. The recasting of the husband was plain odd, it took me awhile to realise that Scott was playing the Xander Berkly role. The CIA team were really underused, I was expecting them to at least get their hands dirty a little and looking forward to seeing them storm a building or at least kill some people.

Speaking of the killing, the action here is obviously neutered so as to gain a lower rating. There's a lot of quick edits and strange moments where the film cuts away from the carnage. The decision to lower the rating makes sense from a financial standpoint but cinematically it just ruins any chance the film had. The big shoot out plays like a bargain basement Scarface and had no real impact, sure it looks alright but it's so overtly familiar that you can name a dozen other films that were almost identical.

For a franchise that started off so well Taken has quickly evolved into one of the blandest and most boring by the numbers franchises out there. It's not terrible, it's just so bland and familiar that it's hard to care.