4/10

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but “Taken 3” is by far the worst of the series. The biggest shame about this film is that it does harm to the two films before it. For anyone who has seen the trailer even once, the film is the continuing story of former FBI agent, Brian Mills (Liam Neeson). His 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. Based on that synopsis, you would think Mills would always be looking over his shoulder, however, the only people chasing him are the LAPD, and even they seem far too stupid to be persuers. There were so many moments during the film where i scratched my head wondering about the leads of these officers, and how they were always conveniently one step behind Mills. I can forgive terrible cliche character traits if the film is artfully crafted. It’s a shame those two words will never have anything to do with this film. While i am only three movies into the new year, i can say that “Taken 3” will be one of the most poorly edited films of 2015. There are scenes in this movie that feel like they go on for far too long and don’t add anything to the ongoing series of events. Then, there are those films that start to give us a piece of character motivation or background for a new character to the series, and it cuts away without the audience any wiser about the intention of said scene. This editing problem hits it’s hardest during two huge parts for the film, Brian’s sidesteps with death, and the ending of the movie. I don’t plan on spoiling anything about the ladder, but the movie kind of just ends without any rhyme or reason. I get the feeling that Director Luc Besson saw that his film was an hour and forty minutes and decided he better end it. There’s no high note or memorable line to end it on, hell, there isn’t even closure among our characters. The scenes involving Brian escaping death are shown without him escaping them, or having any possible way out. Then, a scene later he is shown walking away without any explanation what so ever. I’m not going to pretend for a second that the first film was the logical film of the decade, but at least they always keyed the viewer in on how Mills could escape such a fate. The film pits him in these impossible to escape situations and then expects us to believe it when we see him 2 minutes later. This film has been marketed as the finale in the trilogy, but it’s certainly possible for a sequel to come from the anti climatic ending we are served up. Another huge problem with the film comes in the tame nature of it’s PG-13 rating. The first two films were also rated the same, but there is something about “Taken 3” that almost feels watered down. In fact, if your kid can take violence, i would say that this film is something the whole family can be………SERIOUSLY. There is no language, and more importantly, no blood in this movie anywhere. Characters get shot with a clear view of their wound, and there is absolutely not one drop of blood sprouting from it. One scene even had Mills poke a wound with his gun, and still nothing. I get it’s a PG-13 film, but don’t have gunshots if you treat the viewer like they are too stupid to understand the consequences of gun violence. Overall, i just can’t recommend this film for anyone. I know people are going to see it because they saw the first two, but trust me when i say that no matter how bad “Taken 2” was to you, it’s the ending we all deserved. The poster slogan says  “It Ends Here”. Lets hope for what little credibility there is for this series, that is the truth. If you want a good Neeson film lately, check out “A Walk Among the Tombstones”.