96 Hours - Taken 3 (Taken 3)
France 2015

Opening 8 Jan 2015

Directed by: Olivier Megaton
Writing credits: Luc Besson, Robert Mark Kamen
Principal actors: Liam Neeson, Forest Whitaker, Maggie Grace, Famke Janssen, Jonny Weston

The third time is a charm, so they say. Taken came out in 2008, Taken 2 in 2012. Now we have the, supposedly, final sequence: Taken 3, once again starring Liam Neeson as Bryan Mills and Maggie Grace as his daughter Kim.

Brian’s ex-wife Lenore visits him several times. She obviously has a problem, but won’t talk about it. Bryan gives her the key to his apartment in case she needs some off-time from her regular life. He comes home to find her dead in his bed and the police arresting him for murder. He flees and hides with the help of his former, amazing connections. He sets out on the trail of the real murderer, always two steps ahead of the police. See if you can guess the culprit before Bryan does.

Neeson looks a little bit worse for wear, which is not surprising considering the many punches he has suffered throughout three sequences of Taken. He is probably happy to end it. We probably are, too, except for some hard-core Taken fans who might wish for Part IV. The rest of us can get on with our film-viewing and explore new possibilities, although there is no reason not to see this film for old times’ sake. (Becky Tan)