Tag Archives: liam neeson

TAKEN 3 – Exclusive Trailer

Posted on by

If history is anything to go by, you just can’t keep a good guy down. Liam Neeson aka undisputed throat puncher returns as ex-covert operative Bryan Mills. The guy who hunted down his daughter’s kidnappers, The man who taught his daughter to drive in the space of a few hours and the man who’s torture skills include nails, wire and a whole load of electricity returns in Taken 3. After watching the first two Taken films you could be forgiven for wondering where they could possibly go next and who else could be kidnapped. However from the trailer it seems that for Taken 3 they are upping the anti when his ex-wife is brutally murdered. Consumed with rage and framed for the crime, Mills once again goes on the rampage, this time hunted himself by the CIA, FBI and the police. For one last time, Mills must use his “particular set of skills,” to track down the real killers, exact his unique brand of justice, and protect the only thing that matters to him now – his daughter.

The trailer looks heavy – enjoy. Taken 3 hits cinemas January 9, 2015

Taken 2 – Movie Review

Posted on by

“I don’t know who you are. I don’t know what you want. If you are looking for ransom, I can tell you I don’t have money. But what I do have are a very particular set of skills; skills I have acquired over a very long career. Skills that make me a nightmare for people like you. If you let my daughter go now, that’ll be the end of it. I will not look for you, I will not pursue you. But if you don’t, I will look for you, I will find you, and I will kill you….”

For anyone who doesn’t know, these now unforgettable words come from Taken; the surprise hit action movie of 2008, a film which saw Liam Neeson; an established actor in his own right become one of the most proficient killing machines and not to mention professional throat puncher since Bourne. What set this film apart from other action movies? Well a number of reasons, it was impeccably acted, superbly directed and (bar one or two questionable scenes) had an incredible screenplay. What’s more it had heart, it was hard not to feel for Liam Neeson’s character the humble, yet deadly Brian Mills in his struggle to rescue his daughter. If you haven’t seen Taken then I highly recommend you do so now.

Taken 2 sees Liam Neeson once again become Brian Mills, however this time the key motivation is simple revenge. Mills finds himself being hunted by Murad (played well by Rade Serbedzija) the father of one of the kidnappers he tortured and killed in the first film. He has sworn revenge on behalf of the families whom Mills destroyed in his attempt to get his daughter back and takes Bryan and his wife hostage during their vacation in Istanbul. Thus the scene is set for more fights against the clock as time for Mills and his estranged wife runs out.

Things start nicely enough, at the beginning we are introduced to teen issues and daughter Kim, we see Mills ‘subtle’ reactions to his daughter having a boyfriend which can only mean one thing. At the same time his ex-wife, Lenore (played by the lovely Famke Janssen who never seems to age at all) is recently separated from her husband and there are hints of a possible reconciliation between her and Brian. However it isn’t too long before there is trouble and Mills ends up using those ‘unique special skills’ he talked about and his daughter Kim (played well by Maggie Grace) has to learn new skills of her own to help her dad.

This all sounds very good and believe me it is. However there are a couple of shortcomings – new director Olivier Megaton just isn’t as snappy on the editing as his predecessor Pierre Morel was. It is nearly 30 minutes in before we see anything in the way of ‘real’ action. Then there is of the absurd choice to make this film a 12A certificate – a choice, that to be honest baffles me. Taken earned a 15 rating for its ‘strong violence and scenes of torture’ so why would you choose to limit yourself by a 12A? What this means is that bullets enter walls rather than flesh, blades are brandished instead of utilised, while a supposedly life-threatening slash to Janssen’s neck is left to the imagination. By and large fight sequences have ‘just’ lost their spark and the shaky cam used in fights was just a plain bad idea. All of these issues just detract from what the film should have been.

On the plus side there is some really good car chases especially a good one from Kim who is about to sit her driving test and ingenious set-piece, involving a map, a shoelace and grenades whose detonations allow our Mills to ascertain his location. Yes he still has the grey matter.

The Verdict

Taken 2 was always going to be a predictable film, firstly for the context and then secondly because purely and simply the first film was so damn good. A common question between myself and my friends was ‘how on earth are they going to improve upon the first film?’ it would simply be too hard to supersede the original in terms of memorable scenes. To a certain extent this film doesn’t even try; of course there’s hairy situations that the family barely get through, big explosions and great action sequences and like the first film this one tries to mix all out action against a backdrop of family relationship issues. But whilst it is good, it is not great, whilst it is still a must-see, it does not come across as legendary as its predecessor. What it does accomplish is being a satisfactory conclusion to a remarkable story.

8 out of 10

The Dark Knight Rises Review

Posted on by

I don’t mind saying that I struggled putting this film review together; there are so many people who have already seen The Dark Knight Rises – a film which is now being called the ‘motion picture epic of the summer’ that almost very little remains to be said. As such I was left with a dilemma; do I re-trod old ground of other reviewers, do I try to fill the gaps left by the countless other reviews without giving the plot away or do I try to find a fresh perspective to describe this incredible movie?

The Dark Knight Rises is the final chapter in Christopher Nolan’s epic Batman trilogy; a set of films disparate to any other superhero movies previously seen. Looking at the Avengers and Iron Man films of recent generation it is easy to forget that comic book films formerly prided themselves on suiting their primary audience (which were children) opting for jokey style film making and humour. Caped Crusader (and Bond) films especially were synonymous for focussing on the gadgets rather than on the characterisation. However thank heavens for Mr Nolan, (himself a fan of the Batman comics) because fortunately for us he hadn’t gone through the whole Peter Pan thing – he actually grew up, and as such brought the film bang up to date in a massive, grimy and brutally honest way. Over the past two movies (and equally in this movie) you have villains that actually scare you (The Joker portrayed  by Heath Ledger was actually psychotic) and when we talk about crime syndicates we actually see about the dark and dismal pits of crime corruption where you can trust no one. Written by David S. Goyer, Jonathan Nolan and Bob Kane what we have here in The Dark Knight Rises an incredible master class in film making, fantastic acting from all performers and an astonishing end to perhaps the best film of the summer.

It has been eight years since Batman vanished into the night, turning, in that instant, from hero to fugitive. Taking the blame for the death of D.A. Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart), the Dark Knight became a fugitive sacrificing everything so that a law which Dent wanted to pass would go through. For a time the lie worked; officers fought with vigour and criminal activity in Gotham City was crushed under the anti-crime Dent Act. However the arrival of Bane, a masked terrorist with incredible strength and will power and who threatens to crush Gotham city brings Batman out of retirement for one last battle. Oh yes and the arrival of a sexy cat burglar too. The stage is set.

Watching this film I was trying to remember the last time I saw so much emotion in a superhero film. Christian Bale easily carries his part as both billionaire philanthropist Bruce Wayne and as the Dark Knight. Gosh that man has got so much talent. You can tell he gave the role everything, from the visceral fight scenes to the moment to moment realities with his butler Alfred (played impeccably well by Michael Caine) you just can’t help but believe him and in his cause. When Batman does show up – it is incredibly exciting. Equally well played is Tom Hardy as the super-villain, aptly called Bane; a slab of muscle and brutal killing power, every appearance on screen just makes you think something bad is going to happen. Anne Hathaway plays the part of slinky, sexy cat burglar Cat woman. She carries her role well and for the most part is easy on the eye and provides some much needed breaks between the bloody and dark tone of the rest of the film.

And what a dark tone it is – a vision of near apocalyptic catastrophe that quickly swishes through the near 3 hour running time with action, explosions, suspense and twists and turns in spades.  Joseph Gordon-Levitt gives a terrific performance as the young, idealistic police officer, Detective Blake, and there are some excellent role reprisals from Morgan Freeman and even Liam Neeson.

It is sad to think that this is the ‘reportedly’ last Batman movie under Christopher Nolan’s direction. I don’t believe his movies will be forgotten for quite some time. Bearing in mind the amount of money this film has already made at the box office – it is doubtful that we have seen the last of the Caped Crusader one can only hope that the future iterations will be as good as this.

If you havent seen the final instalment in the Batman Trilogy make it your aim to do so – it is a fantastic film.

Verdict

9.5/10

The A Team review by Junior Smart {Film}

Posted on by

Bet you didn’t know that “Hannibal” Smith loves it when a plan comes together. Almost every single middle aged person on the planet knows those words and the theme tune that it almost instantaneously brings to mind and what it means. The A-Team was an iconic Saturday morning show of the 80’s, and brings back lucid memories of ‘family time’ huddled round the TV set and school playgrounds where every kid would pretend to be in the van and involved in epic shoot-outs. It is also the latest film to get the movie update treatment by film studios that seem to be fast running out of original material and are looking to entice film going audiences back into the cinema.

I would have loved to have seen the CEO of 20th Century Fox’s face of when they brought this plan to the table. You can almost hear his words ‘What – you only want to bring the biggest TV show of all time to the big screen? – Are you for real? Damn we better get this one right – if we screw this one up even my grand kids grand kids won’t forgive me!!! Hell – let’s go ahead but let’s throw the kitchen sink at it!’

Bringing this to the screen was either going to be hit – or a miss and they knew there was going to be no second chances, no reboot in five years time, no nothing. Screw up on any aspect, have the wrong actors, have a crap script and you can forget it. Little wonder then that the film was in development since the mid 1990s, having gone through numerous writers and story ideas, being put on hold numerous times. In the end the film was directed by the accomplished Joe Carnahan and produced by Stephen J. Cannell, and legendary brothers Ridley and Tony Scott. This talented group act almost like an A-Team in their own right and bring the story bang up to date with enthusiasm.

The story follows the principle of the original series. For those of you who didn’t know The A-Team are a crack group of soldiers who go on the run after being framed for a ‘crime that they did not commit’ who now exist as soldiers of fortune… The movie belts along at a cracking pace but with a few twists along the way and thoughtfully the directors decided to create the origin story for the first half of the movie. This I thought was a superb idea because at the very least it gives the action compulsion. By the end of the first half of the film you know why they are all together, and more importantly why B.A.Baracus ‘will not get on no plane’.

The actors’ success in portraying their characters is a major factor in the film’s triumph and is second only to the fantastic script. As an 80’s A-Team fan my initial apprehension was that this would be a shoddy remake that unfortunately we have become accustomed to over the past decade, with paper thin characters that not only did not look like their counterparts but were going to be unable to carry them. However Liam Neeson steps sturdily into the role of John “Hannibal” Smith. He breathes life into the guy with a smile yet plays him as an individual rather than try to imitate the now legendary role made famous by George Peppard. As a result you appreciate him far more. The same goes for the rest of the cast. Bradley Cooper as “Face” gives the character his own suave inventive spin and also worthy of note is Sharlto Copley as “Howling Mad” Murdock. He conveys the character as being genuinely off his head yet also a hotshot talented pilot and he creates some real laugh out loud moments.

You can tell that the entire cast fully enjoyed making this film because the level of authenticity in the camaraderie, as a result you feel for their disappointments and whoop for their success. Liam Neeson said in a recent interview that it was the script not memories of the 80’s show that made him sign on the dotted line and judging from the script who can blame him; the script is very strong. Indeed you could take the title away from this film and still have a great action movie in its own right. Yes it is clichéd, yes it action focused but it also fun and does definitely have a heart. For example B.A.Baracus (played by a very driven UFC Champion Quinton “Rampage” Jackson) ends up in jail he finds faith and decides that he doesn’t want to kill anymore. An interesting idea considered that he is a solider ‘of fortune’ and that their adversaries seem to stop at nothing until the A-Team is taken out of the picture for good. The rest of the team play out this potential ‘conflict of interest’ as great friendship in real life would allow and for me this is a nice touch on the 80’s series.

Just as good as the actors were those working behind the scenes with the special effects. Whilst there is nothing here that is ‘new’ so to speak, the film is big budget and well executed, some of the scenes are incredible if not totally unbelievable but still worth seeing. Want to see a tank fall out of a plane? It’s here. Want to see a helicopter take on missiles? It’s here. Want to see a twist of romance in the middle of breathtaking action? It’s here.
This story, complete with the performances in both acting and special effects is a powerful concoction especially for those in need of a testosterone built blockbuster of the summer. “Hannibal” Smith loves it when a plan comes together – Trust me by the time the credits roll – you will too.