WARNING: I don’t know who you are. Actually, I do. You’re one of the three people who read my blog. If you are looking for ransom, I don’t have any money. But what I do have are a very particular set of SPOILERS, spoilers I have acquired over a two hour period spent watching a movie you haven’t seen yet. Spoilers that can ruin your movie going experience. If you click this post off now, that will be the end of it. But if you don’t, I will spoil this movie for you.
Actually, is it even possible for this movie franchise to have a spoiler? By now, you know off the bat someone is getting taken.
I enjoyed the original Taken movie. I thought it was very original. I was surprised that Neeson, a traditional dramatic actor, was able to morph into an action star. The concept was original – the bad guys picked the wrong guy to mess with.
Seriously – have you ever just been walking around, minding your own business, someone insults you, you let it it go and walk right by, because you’re a normal law-abiding citizen, but secretly you hope that said rude person will be rude to the wrong person and said person will kick their ass?
What? No? That’s just me? OK, well I guess that’s why I thoroughly enjoyed the original Taken then. It was enjoyable to watch the fallout that occurred when the bad guys inadvertently incurred the wrath of Neeson’s character, a highly trained badass ex-CIA agent.
Taken 2? Well, they flipped it around a little bit. Neeson and his ex-wife get taken, and then their daughter has to help them escape.
Hollywood could have stopped there but recently we’ve received Taken 3 – The Search for More Cash.
Caveat – as action films go, it was pretty decent, and frankly, above average for what is usually released in January. January tends to be the month where Hollywood releases the films that are real stinkers. I can’t say this movie stinks, it just does in comparison to the original.
Because seriously – how many times can someone in this guy’s life be taken???
One note – Neeson’s character’s current husband is changed over to a) be played by a different character and b) be the bad guy. I’m not a fan of it when Hollywood does rewrites like that in the hopes that no one will notice.
Here’s what the pitch meeting was like:
PRODUCER 1: We’re going to rewrite the character of Stuart the current husband to be the bad guy.
PRODUCER 2: That’s fine. That’s something that only a lame, obscure book blogger with 3 followers would notice.
All in all – not the best of the series, but better than usual for what you get in the first month of the year.
Bookshelf Battle 