The uncalled-for exercise Taken 3 doesn't fit the previous two installments of Taken, Liam Neeson's family-retrieval franchise. Nothing gets taken here except your ticket money.
Instead,
Neeson is framed for a murder and the former CIA operative goes on the lam to
conduct his own investigation, always a scant half-step in front of the police,
who are commanded by Forest Whitaker. No exotic locales as in the other films -
this all takes place in a rather trashy Los Angeles.
Luckily,
Neeson has a copious stash of resources put aside for just such an occasion.
And he can always count on his recurring cadre of ex-spy buddies, notably
Leland Orser, who are loyal enough to commit several felonies on his behalf.
What doesn't
make sense is why Neeson would flee in the first place, since he's obviously
innocent. And why he doesn't share with the police the clues he uncovers, since
they are both presumably trying to catch the killer.
It's because
. . . then we wouldn't have a movie. That's why. Not that there's much of a
movie in Taken 3. This is mostly a collection of explosions and blunt-force
trauma.
Famke
Janssen is back as Neeson's ex, and the mother of his willowy daughter, Maggie
Grace, who is a magnet for menace. As Janssen notes of herself, she has lousy
taste in men. You can practically smell the villainy on her latest spouse,
Dougray Scott.
This time
around, Luc Besson and Robert Mark Kamen, who have written all the Taken scripts,
have grafted an incompatible sense of humor onto our usually grim hero. But
then, so many elements of this movie clash, such as the scenes of placid
domesticity alternating with sudden displays of brutality. And Nathaniel
Mechaly's inappropriately swollen score.
In the end,
Taken 3 is like a nursery school playground: a great deal of noise, running
around, and tears, to very little purpose.
0 comments:
Post a Comment