‘Taken 3’ Review: Liam Neeson Rides the Franchise to an Absurd Conclusion

Sluggishly written and incomprehensively edited, this third (and with any luck, final) entry offers neither cast nor crew digging into their special sets of skills

If we’ve learned anything from the “Fast and Furious” movies, it’s that it’s perfectly OK for sequels to get stupider so long as they also get more entertaining and more meticulously crafted.

There’s plenty of stupid on display in “Taken 3,” but otherwise this dispiriting action movie – somehow simultaneously fidgety and flaccid – exists only to give Liam Neeson one more chance to play the role that made him “Liam Neesons,” unlikely autumn-years action star. After seeing Neeson’s Bryan Mills lay waste to sex traffickers and the Albanian mafia in the two previous installments, the filmmakers apparently felt hard-pressed to find a bad guy who could present a viable challenge to the seasoned CIA veteran.

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