Taken 3 (4/10): A parody of The Fugitive more than an actual sequel

“If you go down this road, the LAPD, the FBI, the CIA... they're all gonna come for you. They'll find you. And they'll stop you.”

Taken 3 is less of a sequel and more of a parody of memorable action films such as The Fugitive and even the first Taken. I was a huge fan of the original which I even included among my favorite films the year it came out because I was blown away by Liam Neeson’s performance and the gripping action sequences. I also admit defending the sequel, although it is a decision I regret now that I have rewatched the film, because I just loved the character that Neeson plays. I thought the idea of a franchise for Bryan Mills would be an awesome one, but you just can’t continue making it revolve around his family. I mean his daughter should be in desperate need of a psychiatrist after everything that she has gone through. I don’t know how Maggie Grace pulls it off, but she looks even younger now than she did 10 years ago when she starred in the first season of Lost. This time the plot revolves around Bryan’s ex-wife getting murdered and him getting framed for her death. While being chased by the police, Bryan has to discover who was behind Lenny’s murder. We’ve seen this plot played out many times before, but no one has done it better than The Fugitive. You even have Forest Whitaker here playing the smart detective trying to solve the case while he is chasing Bryan (similar to what Tommy Lee Jones did in The Fugitive). The villains in this film are probably the weakest element and are often laughable which is why I felt this was sort of a parody instead of an action movie. The action scenes are difficult to watch because the camera is moving all the time and there are over 50 shots every minute or so. There are also many unbelievable scenes which Bryan walks out of without a scratch, and we don’t even see how he survives some of them. But somehow the climax outdoes them all in ridiculousness. Taken 3 is a huge letdown and hopefully the final film of the franchise as promised in the posters. 

Liam Neeson is an actor that I will always enjoy watching on screen, especially when making action scenes and threatening people over the phone. My only recommendation is that they don’t show him running because it isn’t one of his strengths. Unfortunately the film has so many shots and cuts that you can’t enjoy Neeson fighting off the villains. Forest Whitaker is a great actor, but you can tell that sometimes he is just cashing in a performance. He is basically playing the same character he did in The Last Stand although this time he pays with a rubber band around his wrist while trying to solve the case. At this point I guess I would rather watch a film where Liam Neeson is threatening villains over the phone than actually seeing director Megaton ruining the action by cutting one shot after another every second. Fake Janssen doesn’t get much screen time and I guess she bailed the franchise at the right moment. The villains have no personality whatsoever in this film (which I would argue is the case in the entire franchise, but at least they were threatening the first time around). The screenplay is full of plot holes and in the end you have to go through the tedious explanation of what we already know has happened just in case the audience was stupid and didn’t understand what they saw. But perhaps they did it for those of us who may have fallen asleep during the action scenes because this is by far the longest film in the franchise and you feel it.

My Review: The Wolverine (7/10)

¨What they did to me, what I am, can't be undone.¨

It seems that adding the ¨The¨to the title nowadays makes every movie look a bit cooler and it actually works for this film because The Wolverine is much better than its predecessor, X-Men Origins - Wolverine. Logan was one of my favorite characters in the X-Men trilogy and it was a shame the origin story didn't work too well because he is such an interesting character and there are so many places you could go with it. Director James Mangold (who has a favorable track record with me: Walk the Line and 3:10 to Yuma) succeeds here by taking Logan to Japan, which many fans of the comics may agree is one of their personal favorite moments (Frank Miller and Chris Claremont's 1982 run). Having the events of this film take place after The Last Stand also allowed Mangold to have more space to work with and focus on Logan's inner demons as he deals with the loss of Jean Grey. Fans won't be disappointed because the character is carefully developed here and unlike its predecessor the action scenes work to build the story and not the other way around where you have the typical superhero movie that jumps from one action scene to the next without any apparent purpose. The action scenes are also beautifully choreographed here (I am specially thinking of that train sequence). Another thing that worked for me is that you don't have Logan trying to save the world; the entire plot takes place almost entirely in Japan. It is a small scale film unlike recent superhero films where everything takes place around the globe while entire cities are being blown to pieces. And finally the film has a great scene after the credits that connect things nicely to the next X-Men film coming out next year. The Wolverine is a solid film and one of the better superhero films of the year. 

The film takes place around two years after the events of The Last Stand. Logan (Hugh Jackman) is living on his own in the Yukon constantly having nightmares about Jean (Famke Janssen). He has been living as a nomad in the woods conflicted with the fact that he has lost so many dear loved ones. One day while having a small dispute with some hunters at a near town he encounters Yukio (Rila Fukushima) a Japanese red haired woman who has come to persuade him to come to Japan to say goodbye to her master, Yashida (Ken Yamamura), who is dying from cancer. Logan saved Yashida's life 70 years ago during WWII in Nagasaki and now he wants to say goodbye to him. Logan decides to travel to Japan to say his farewell, but once he is there Yashida presents him with a unique opportunity: he claims his company has the technological advances to make him mortal again. He knows eternity has been a curse for him, and offers him the opportunity of becoming mortal, but Logan refuses the offer. He then asks Logan to stay for a couple of days and protect his granddaughter, Mariko (Tao Okamoto), who he believes is in danger. That night Logan awakens to find that Yashida has passed away. During the funeral some yakuza try to attack Mariko, but Logan saves her. For the first time in his life Logan doesn't seem to recover from his injuries, but that doesn't prevent him from protecting Mariko from the people that are after her. The Wolverine now must learn how to face an unknown enemy while at the same time deal with his immortality. 

Hugh Jackman looked better than ever as Wolverine (this is the fifth time he repeats the role). He owns the character in probably the same way that Robert Downey Jr. owns Iron Man and is physically in better shape than in his previous films. The film also seems to have more depth and substance as the character is better developed here. It also has what a superhero film must have which are thrilling action scenes, but there is much more to this film. The story is dark and isn't as fast paced, but it is satisfying. My only complaint has to do with the final act which is a little too cartoonish and generic, but it doesn't hurt the overall effectiveness of the film. I really had a fun time with this film and it has me hooked with how they are going to tie things up with the next film of the franchise.

My Review: Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters (3/10)

"Me and my sister... we have a past. We almost died at the hands of a witch. But that past made us stronger. We'd gotten a taste of blood. Witch blood. And we haven't stopped since."

Hansel & Gretel is yet another classic fairytale that has been brought to the big screen in an atrocious manner. This new wave of dark fairytales have been a complete disappointment for me considering I really didn't like Snow White or the Jack the Giant Slayer films either. Despite consisting of a talented cast and a well known story, these movies seem to lack any character development whatsoever and these well known Hollywood actors can't do anything to save them from being a complete failure. The problem may lie on the screenplay considering they take such classic and familiar stories and present ridiculous twists while trying to be much darker. Even when these films try to be funny, the comedy doesn't work either; and despite having some extremely nice visuals the set pieces aren't enough to draw us in and make us care for the characters. Hansel & Gretel is basically one action sequence after another with lots of blood and without any buildup for us to identify with any of the characters. Despite being such well known actors, these characters failed to attract me, and even the villain in this film (played by Famke Janssen) is poorly developed. The movie is less than 90 minutes long, and the action sequences take up almost the entirety of the film making this just a boring and tedious experiment where we see one character who we never really know get his head blown off. The film is directed by Norwegian filmmaker Tommy Wirkola following the success of his 2009 local horror film, Dead Snow, involving Nazi zombie soldiers. He was also responsible for the screenplay as well. There is not much positive things I could say about this film, except that I really like the two lead actors and am a little disappointed they chose to play these characters.

The story introduces us to Hansel and Gretel as kids escaping from the candy house after the witch had imprisoned them. Everything from that point on is a reinvention of the fairytale by Wirkola. The two siblings grow up to become witch hunters after their horrific experience. Hansel (Jeremy Renner) and Gretel (Gemma Arterton) travel from town to town collecting bounty fees for killing off the evil witches nearby. At the moment, the Mayor (Rainer Bock) of a small village recruits the siblings' service after 11 children have gone missing. The Sheriff (Peter Stormare) isn't too pleased with the arrival of these two siblings considering they made him look bad in front of the entire town after saving a local village woman named Mina (Pihla Vitala) who he believed to be a witch and wanted to burn her at the stake. The two witch hunters begin to investigate the disappearances of the children and realize that a dangerous witch named Muriel (Famke Janssen) is behind the kidnappings. With the help of a local boy named Ben (Thomas Mann) and Edward the troll (Robin Atkins Downes) they face off against Muriel and her covenant of witches. 

There is really no need for me to continue on blabbing about how much I disliked this film. There is nothing going on here plot wise. These fairytales haven't crossed over too well to the big screen and I'm afraid they might be ruining all these childhood stories I enjoyed reading about. Having seen all these classic fairytales turned into movies I have to admit that Shyamalan's The Lady in the Water is becoming more and more valuable to me. This genre has resulted rather difficult for me to enjoy, but somehow Lady in the Water which plays out like a fairytale worked a lot better than these films. Shyamalan might be criticized by many people, but he knows how to make movies better than your average director. He has failed recently in his last two big film adaptations (After Earth and The Last Airbender), but he has made so many great films in the past and Lady in the Water is turning into a masterpiece if you compare it to these recent fairytale adaptations that have come out. Hansel & Gretel may just be the worst one in this genre and it is a shame because I really like Jeremy Renner and believe he has made some incredible films. I also like Gemma Arterton, who I loved as a James Bond girl, and despite looking very good here, her talent is wasted in this senseless action film. This is one of the worst films of 2013.

My Review: Taken 2 (8/10)

¨Listen to me carefully Kim: Your mother is going to be taken, and people are gonna come for you to. ¨

I find it almost impossible not to like a film starring Liam Neeson in this type of role. He is such a great and serious actor, but it´s like these roles were really made for him. I don’t care how stupid the script might have felt, or how poorly edited the action scenes were; I really love Liam Neeson in this role. I think he`s much better than Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible, or Daniel Craig in James Bond, or even Matt Damon in the Bourne trilogy. That is how much I like this great actor playing this retired Ex-CIA agent trying to save his family. Taken was one of my favorite films of 2008, I loved everything about that movie. Taken 2 (loved that they stuck with a simple title for the sequel instead of adding something lame after the two may not be as nearly as great as that film was, but it still is a lot of fun and has Liam Neeson doing what he does best. This is a very predictable, formulaic film, but he just makes it that much better. French Director, Olivier Megaton, was fortunate to work with Neeson because without him this movie would´ve been terrible. The action sequences weren’t as cool as his previous film Colombiana (which also got a lift thanks to Zoe Saldana´s performance). The change of director from the first film might not have worked to well, but producer Luc Besson and screenwriter Robert Kamen were back on board. Besson, who directed some great films in the 90´s (Leon being one of my personal favorites) must not like directing very much because he has stuck mostly to producing and writing. He could of done a better job here with the sequel, but I think he was relying heavily on Neeson`s performance, which let’s face it makes this franchise so much better than it really is. I still loved this movie and had a lot of fun despite not being as good as the original.

Former CIA agent, Bryan Mills (Liam Neeson), succeeded in bringing his daughter back after being kidnapped in Europe, leaving dozens of dead bodies behind. These men were responsible for his daughter`s kidnapping and messed with the wrong person. Some time has passed and Bryan is completely dedicated to his daughter, Kim (Maggie Grace), who he´s trying to help pass the driving test. He´s also a bit obsessive with her new boyfriend, and sometimes goes over the limit when trying to protect her. His ex wife, Lenore (Famke Janssen), is going through a separation in her second marriage and Bryan begins to get closer to her. He invites Kim and Lenore to meet up with him in Istanbul for a job which will only take him a few days. What begins like a nice vacation for the family ends up being a nightmare when they discover they are being followed by the father of one of the kidnappers that Bryan killed while rescuing his daughter. Murad (Rade Serbedzija) has sworn revenge for his son´s death and for the death of the rest of the victim’s family who worked with him. This is where the action begins and does not stop up to the very end.

I really do hope this franchise ends here because there is not really much more you can add to this. Taken 2 is not as intense as the original, but it still had me entertained during the full 90 minutes. I might be a little biased because I really like Liam Neeson. I admit the script isn’t as gripping or smart than the original, but it was still inventive enough for us to enjoy a second installment. There are a lot of hugely implausible scenarios, but I tend to be a bit open minded when I go to the movies. I go to be entertained, and that is exactly what I got out of Taken 2. It was really going to be very difficult for this sequel to live up to its predecessor, but it worked quite well for me. I can understand why some people may not have liked this film as much, but for the most part I think that fans of the first film will leave satisfied at the end. It is really a lot of fun.

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