Shannon Nutt

Yeah, I've heard it's little more than a moneygrab - almost as if they just decided to make a sequel without bothering with, you know, actually writing a script.

JimRochester

Awesome

My Other Self

Since Taken 2 is all sorts of awesomeness, I guess I'll end up seeing this one in theaters.

JimRochester

Will probably see it this weekend. I actually liked 2. My biggest problem with the series is Maggie Grace as the daughter. Really? A 17 year old? Someone owed someone a favor, or she blew the casting guy. She looks on the high side of 25 when she was cast. Everything else is perfectly real for me.

DJariya

Seeing this tomorrow. I have never paid any attention to the reviews for the Taken movies. They are what they are.

robin2099

Just got back from seeing this and its......not that great.

People may disagree with me but I think the first Taken is a classic action movie. It was lean, it moved quick, had a great lead, and really just did everything well. Taken 2 was kind of goofy but it fit the usual action movie profile of the sequel being bigger. And I thought it was entertaining. Not anywhere near as good as the first, but still fun.

And Taken 3 actually works somewhat well. Making it like the fugitive and seeing Brian on the run is actually pretty entertaining. Leenore's murder worked(sucks Famke's role only amounts to a cameo) and we get to see Brian's old military buddies have a bigger role. The husband is now somehow played by Dougray Scott though which kind of threw me off.

So what really killed my interest in the movie? Olivier Megaton. Holly hell what on earth was he thinking when shooting the action scenes? This might be the most jumbled editing I've seen in an action movie since Quantom of Solace. In one twenty second sequence I counted, I shit you not seventeen edits. And it's distractingly awful. After watching an awesome movie like John Wick it looks even worse. I don't understand why Beeson keeps letting him direct these movies. The end of the movie also ends with a pretty big wimper. Actually a REALLY big wimper.

So overall I was dissapointed. It has potential but awful directing in the action scenes kills it. Honestly I think its the worst of the series. 2.5/5

Taken: 5/5

Taken 2: 3.5/5

Solid Snake

Taken 1 is a good movie. Any strong issue w/ it falls in that "set up" period which is what? the first 20 minutes. Before Neeson hits Europe. It's really rotten in unstable of a narrative. You've got his buddies, who are A+ but then you've got his daughter (as a whole) and the family shit. Not until Neeson is allowed to kick ass in France does it really start chopping you in the throat w/ how awesome it is now.

5/5 it ain't. It's damn fun though. Came out of nowhere it did.

dex14

This was just soooo bad. I think I enjoyed the 2nd one more than this. Which says a lot.

mdc3000

Yes the script is awful - but it is Megaton's horrendous direction and slapdash editing that completely ruins this thing. Neeson spends the first act doing nothing but shopping and preparing meals but even once the action starts it is filmed and cut in such a flat, nonsensical way that we NEVER understand the geography of the action we are seeing - there is a chase early on where the quick cutting makes it hard to tell who the hell is running where and to add insult to injury, I swear to god there was a few shots of just shadows moving quickly on pavement - why the fuck do we need to see this? Even something as simple as Neeson grabbing a defibrilator and running towards two baddies with it is botched - he zaps them out of the frame, no payoff, no NOTHING. Fuck Megaton and his awful filmmaking.

bluetoast

Yeah the editing in the second one sucked ass even on simple dialogue scenes with no action. Sucks that those problems continue in the next one, but I'll still see it.

DJariya

Just got back from seeing this.

Easily the worst of the three movies. Total cash grab by Besson and Kamen. The idea of making Bryan a fugitive probably sounded good in the original outline, but man the final product ended up being pretty weak. This is probably Besson and Kamen's worst writing collaboration. I felt like they got really lazy here even though they really has nothing to work with. I don't blame Neeson, they handed him a big fat check and he just took it even though the script sucked.

Only positives were seeing Bryan kick ass again and having his buddies get more involved.

I rolled my eyes on who the big villain was in this and what his motives were.

I would give this a C-

Also, why the hell did they do a second credit roll at the end even though the same credits were on the opening?

DJariya

Also for those wondering Xander Berkeley was unavailable because he's a series regular on the WGN America show Salem. That's why they had to recast Stuart with Dougray Scott.

bluetoast

Damn, his character was pretty good in the first. Hoping Dougray gets to do some cool stuff, along with Leland Orser.

RocShemp

Well, even though this is the last Taken movie, hopefully it's not the last movie about Bryan Mills. I'd like to see him sign back on with his buddies and do some work with them that doesn't involve his family. Sure, that'd suck for Maggie Grace but there's not much else to do with her character. Maybe they can get Pierre Morel back as director.

My Other Self

Sounds like this may be the end of this road. If they were going to do a prequel or do a team-up movie this would have been the one to veer off the path to do that.

The original proposal for Taken 2 was just that. Not sure why they changed course.

bluetoast

What was the original proposal?

robin2099

I don't understand how he keeps getting these movies. He's easily the worst director in Beeson's movie factory.

stingermck

I enjoyed it, it was exactly what I expected it to be. Good to see the team involved, which I know has always been a request around here.

Ghost Dog's character was just like he was in The Shield, always on the trail.

Looking forward to a more bloody directors cut.

dex14

I guess it may not "end here".

BambooLounge

Saw this over the weekend and wow was this bad.

There was barely any action and when it came, it was a letdown. The PG-13 really hurt this movie. I mean, people getting shot through the head and otherwise beaten, etc and basically no blood shown was just incredibly ridiculous.

The opening sequence was as pointless as the rest of the action-less first act.

My buddies and I pretty much laughed our way through this "so bad, it's funny" entry.

Why So Blu?

Saw this finally and it's extremely average hampered by the PG-13 rating and Megaton's Michael Bay-like direction. Watch Bay's Armageddon and you will see that it's directed exactly like this. I liked Liam in it and it was good to see Dougray Scott. I guess Xander Berkeley was busy?

JimRochester

Saw this last night and give it a C- as well. Had some good ideas and some good action but the direction and the editing were horrendous. Glad to see maggie grace was allowed to be older than 17. She's practically a grandmother in real life.

d2cheer

This was horrible. Please let it end here. I would rather see a movie of his buddies with him as a cameo than another one of these.

TheMovieman

I still don't know why they just didn't do a prequel with Neeson and his buds, perhaps their last mission with the government before going into the private sector.

bluetoast

Or even just have them on a private sector mission that leads to a bigger event happening.