Taken 3, It Ends Here?

If you also have not trusted the shady character of Lenore’s (Famke Janssen) husband Stuart St. John (Dougray Scott) and have imagined him not only as a hindrance between Bryan Mills (Liam Neeson) and his wife’s rekindling romance but a possible villain on his own, then Taken 3 or TAK3N made your thoughts possible.

Despite poor reviews from several movie critics, the third and possibly final installment of the Taken movie franchise did not fail to deliver the spy shit (sorry for the word) action you’ve seen since the first film. This time, Bryan’s comrades helped save the day by directly and indirectly (gadgets, technology, etc.) participating in the investigation about Lenore’s murder. Neeson, despite his age (62), also commanded the energy for a brawl several times throughout the film. His daughter Kim (Maggie Grace, who aged fast within the whole movie series) had no vital role in the process this time apart from a life changing development for a college student – she’s pregnant.

No one is taken for a painstakingly extended period of screen time this time but Lenore was still taken for a short time and her character is killed in this movie. The villain? Not Mill’s old enemies but as you now have guessed, is Stuart, Lenore’s husband who was involved in a deep shit (that line from The Transporter suddenly came to mind) and needed money to pay off a Russian mob boss. His wife’s insurance policy is the answer. He almost succeeded in playing both Oleg Malankov (the Russian boss played by Sam Spruell) and Mills by getting them to kill each other. Sorry for all the spoilers. :)

The story as a whole doesn’t produce fireworks but how it was developed; a lot of action of course, will at least not disappoint you. The addition of Forest Whitaker’s character (Inspector Franck Dotzler), with his smart investigative skills or sometimes lack thereof, is also a refreshing development in the film.

But we are left hoping or imagining a possible sequel at the latter part of the film when Mills confronts Stuart but didn’t harm him (err… not much anyway) but threatened to make him pay for what he did after he pays his way out of the law in a few years. So it ends here or not? There was no teaser at the end of the credits so that’s the end ... for now. :)

See also:
Taken 2