Taken 3 (TAK3N) Movie Review | by tiffanyyong.com
Recommended Audience: Fans of Liam Neeson, Maggie Grace, Famke Janssen, Forest Whitaker, Dogray Scott, Sam Spruell, Leland Orser and action/thriller movie fans
Taken 3 (TAK3N) Movie Synopsis
Liam Neeson returns as ex-covert operative Bryan Mills, whose reconciliation with his ex-wife 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. 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.
Taken 3 (TAK3N) Viewer Rating: 4/5 ****
Taken 3 (TAK3N) Movie Review:
Most of the reviews I’ve read online were pretty negative (surprisingly) but I quite disagree with them. I thought that although Taken 3 might not be as epic as the first film, it provided the audience with another perspective of Bryan Mills.
What I like about Taken 3?
In the third instalment, it says that no one gets taken, which is not true. A life was taken, in fact. This drove the Bryan Mills into a further desperation and fury into finding the murderer, as well as to protect his only loved one. I like how there were more involvement from his old CIA friends – Sam and gang (still too little for my liking though) but having them to help Bryan lay low and hide from the police was pretty cool.
While the first film showed Mills’ skills to track his kidnapped daughter down, the second to escape from kidnappers himself and to find out where he was when kidnapped, the third was to lay hidden from the police while having to do what the police do to investigate murder cases, just that he had to be ahead of them.
Kim (Maggie Grace) has a more developed role this time round, with many things happening around her and within her. With less action and more passive acting, she did not exactly aced it, but it was still pretty good. I love the part where she tried to tell her dad the innermost secrets and confusion, their interaction and reactions were priceless!
Forest Whitaker’s role as Inspector Dotzler was pretty interesting, but sadly, a tad under developed. I like how he is smart, but not as fast as Mills, which makes it pretty hilarious when he’s always trying to catch up with the fugitive aka Mills. There were some little actions like him fiddling with chess piece and elastic bands that wasn’t really explained clearly, but I will just accept it as the working brain of a genius.
If Mills is your favourite super-dad, Taken 3 is DEFINITELY something you should watch! Ignore the negative reviews, when my favourite dad is in action, you watch it and you watch how he deal with the useless bad guys. Some people are just too difficult to please! Films like Night at the Museum get criticised for using the same jokes and gags, now Taken 3 which tried to show something different gets criticised for trying to show something different! What do you expect, Taken IS about Bryan Mills, and how he deals with his family, his daughter. A father’s love for his daughter, something that will never change, even in real life.
Do You Know?
The picture used to identify Lenny is the same one that actress Famke Jansen has on her IMDb profile.
In the original Taken (2008), Bryan Mills tells the kidnappers on the phone exactly what he will do and what the kidnappers are up against to which they reply “Good luck”. In Taken 3 (2014), in an interesting role-reversal, Franck Dotzler tells Bryan exactly what he will do and what Bryan is up against to which Bryan replies, “Good luck”.
The character of Stuart St. John was previously played by Xander Berkeley in the first “Taken” film. Berkeley was not available to reprise the role, so Dougray Scott plays St. John in this installment. Dougray Scott is ten years younger than Xander Berkeley, who played Stuart in ‘Taken (2008/I)’.
Liam Neeson stipulated to the movie’s producers that he would only do this third instalment if “nobody gets taken”.
Behind The Scenes and Interviews
Check out Taken 3 (TAK3N) Official Website and Facebook Page!
Taken 3 (TAK3N) is out in cinemas on 8 January 2015.
xoxo
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*Disclosure: No monetary compensation was received for the movie review.
If you’ve seen the movie, do let me know what you think of the film in the comment section below. If you agree/disagree with my review, feel free to comment and let me know! Follow me on Twitter/Instagram @tiffanyyongwt for future movie reviews, as well as other lifestyle reviews. 🙂
1/2 of #TheEpiphanyDuplet, Tiffany Yong juggles her ABCs – Acting, Blogging and Coaching/Consulting as she is fuelled by passion and drive to succeed.
It is not easy to make a living in Singapore just purely based on Acting, so with Blogging to help her with her online presence, and Coaching kids drama, private tutoring and freelance social media consulting to finance her life, she is currently leading the life most people hope to have: Living the Dream!
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I love your detailed review. Unforutnately not the kind of movie I usually watch 🙂
My uncle is so hooked up with this sequel and he was really forcing me to watch but this is not my kind of movie. I don’t know if my uncle is just really addicted but insists that the story is worth watching and understanding. I’ll probably watch when he gets a copy of the 3 movies (which I’m sure he’ll have) so I’ll watch it in one sitting.
ah! ive been told this instalment isn’t as good! after your review, I’m slightly persuaded to watch it lol
Liam Neeson is an amazing actor, and so are Forest Whitaker and Famke Jansen. This movie definitely sounds like a must see!
I love Liam Neeson so his presence in the movie is definitely an incentive for me to watch it. Taken 3 promises to have a great special effects and the cast is so precisely chosen, and the trailer got me! Gonna watch it soon and share my impression!
Very interesting movie. I like Niam Leeson but I’ve never heard of this series. I’m glad he made that stipulation for the 3rd installment. As always, you did a great job on your review. Will I see this? I’m not sure. 🙂
I like the trailer, I’ve been planning to watch it with friends but we all got so busy. Thanks for the wonderful review, Tiffany.
I can’t wait to see this movie! You’ve got me even more excited =) I love Liam
It’s nice to see some parallelism to the first film. It looks really action packed.
We have watched Taken 1 and 2 and I think that everyone who have completed these two would also want to catch the “third installment.” The trailer was somewhat exciting but I’m already starting to get tired with the same concept. Still, the movie seemed worth to watch and you’ve given it 4/5. That’s good.
Saw this movie. All I can say is that, the Taken 1 and Taken 2 is much better than this one :). I love Liam Neeson though.
Oh…I watched this yesterday and loved it! An action-packed scenes for Liam Neeson. I already watched the Taken 1 & 2. Fernando Lachica
It is only now that I realized that the actress who played his daughter was also in Twilight. Hahaha I want to watch this movie and I just breezed through your review for fear I will read a spoiler along the way. -katrina centeno
Interesting! Although I have never watched any taken movie but I might check ths out or do I really need to see the older movies to fully understand it?
It’s not necessary, but it’s best to watch the first two to understand the relationship between the dad and daughter.
I’ve watched the first two in the series and while i really enjoyed the first one the sequel was just so-so for me. Am going to give the 3 installment a try and hopefully this one will be a great watch. Fingers crossed!!
Very interesting review. I hope I get to watch and see for myself.. my schedule is very hectic this week and next
This looks like a great movie. Although I have not seen 1 and 2, I could still sit down to this one. Gotta love a great action movie with Liam in it 🙂