Was anyone asking for a Taken 3? The first Taken, in which CIA Agent Bryan Mills (Liam Neeson) prowled the streets of Paris searching for his kidnapped daughter, was one of the most enjoyable actioners to hit screens in the last decade, and it introduced audiences to Neeson as a bona fide action hero, so I can’t fault it for that. Then, Taken 2 arrived, lacking all of the original’s smarts, ingenuity and (worst of all) sense of fun. When the sequel grossed more than the first Taken, however, a third installment was inevitable.
Now, in addition to the already-confirmed Neeson, the Olivier Megaton-directed film has locked down Maggie Grace, who played Bryan’s daughter Kim, and Famke Janssen, who played his wife Lenore. Neither of those casting scoops are very surprising, considering that Grace and Janssen both took on larger roles in Taken 2.
How they’ll factor into the third film is currently unknown, though Neeson recently dropped an interesting bit of information. Recently, while speaking with Jonathan Ross to promote Non-Stop, Neeson teased a “really, really good story” and revealed the following:
“They called me up and I said “I’ll do it… but only as long as nobody gets taken.””
Where does that leave Taken 3? Well, Forest Whitaker signed on in January, but other than his casting, we know next to nothing about the plot of the upcoming threequel. Will Bryan put his sleuthing and fighting skills to good use by launching a career as a detective who specializes in tracking down abduction victims? Or perhaps a significant time jump is in order, and ghosts from Bryan’s past, unrelated to his escapades in Europe, will come back to haunt him.
Seeing as Taken 3 will be the final installment in the series, there’s a high probability that the Albanian mob will again play a role, but I can’t imagine how, given that so many of his opponents have already met grisly ends.
Filming will begin at the end of the month, and Taken 3 is expected to hit sometime in 2015.
