Liam Neeson fails to save day in Taken 3

DESPITE the efforts of Liam Neeson, the latest chapter in the Taken series of thrillers rarely engages like its pulpy predecessors did.

Taken 3 (MA15+)

Director: Olivier Megaton (Taken 2)

Starring: Liam Neeson, Dougray Scott, Famke Janssen, Maggie Grace.

Rating: 2 stars

This time, it’s strictly impersonal

Since the days of the original Taken, Liam Neeson has made it his business to saturate the market with messy revenge thrillers.

Most of them have been better than bearable, largely thanks to Neeson’s willingness to trash his own reputation in compelling fashion.

Numerous abductions ... Maggie Grace plays Liam Neeson’s long-suffering daughter in Taken 3.

Unfortunately, Taken 3 will be remembered as the one where Neeson just couldn’t save the day.

Part of the problem is that all the highly strung, highly improbable stuff is happening in America this time around. The exotic European settings of the first two Takens were more important to the franchise’s success than producers realised.

Therefore this tale of how Neeson’s Bryan Mills is framed (sigh) for a murder he did not commit rarely engages like its pulpy predecessors did.

Without giving too much away — the sole surprise in the movie is linked to whose death has made a prime perp out of Bryan — our harassed hero must barrel all over LA in a bid to prove his innocence.

New setting ... Taken 3 loses some of the excitement of the previous films by moving the action to LA.

The cops give the most half-hearted chase to the suspect imaginable, with chunky chief investigator Franck Dotzler (Forest Whitaker) all but shouting out loud his inkling that Bryan didn’t really do it.

While car chases and sundry things that go boom-boom and bang-bang are in plentiful supply, genuine tension levels struggle to be summoned.

Series regulars Maggie Grace (Bryan’s much-abducted daughter) and Famke Janssen (Bryan’s much married ex-wife) have little to bring to the party.

New recruit Dougray Scott does the best of the supporting brigade, but he doesn’t have much to beat amidst a cast of home-brand Russian-gangster types.

Originally published as Liam Neeson fails to save day in Taken 3