Taken 3

By: Robert Murphy

I was half expecting this movie to be about Liam Neeson getting his dog kidnapped or some such nonsense. This isn't the case though, Bryan Mills (Liam Neeson) isn't off in Paris or Turkey, he is going about his everyday life at home and still trying his best to be a good dad to his daughter, Kim (Maggie Grace), picking that perfect birthday gift for her still eludes him. His ex wife, Lenore (Famke Janssen), is still very much in the picture as well but things with her rich husband, Stuart (Dougray Scott), are about to come to an end. That not so innocent flirting between Bryan and Lenore that happened in Taken 2 is more painfully obvious this time around and just when you think Bryan will get the happy ending he deserves, Lenore ends up dead in his apartment. Just out the door for a moment to fetch them some nice bagels, Bryan returns home to find his ex wife's throat slashed and the police conveniently busting down his door. Now, Bryan is the bad guy and ends up on the run and out to prove his innocent, maybe kill the jerks that ruined the chance he had to reunite his family too. 

Rather than sticking around to defend himself to the police, Bryan leads them on a merry chase which he promptly escapes from in order to go dark and get some old spy tools to help him solve his ex wife's murder all on his own. Doesn't really seem like the straight laced Byran Mills thing to do but at least this time he isn't killing everyone, these people are just cops trying to do their jobs. Enter a new character, LAPD Inspector Franck Dotzler (Forest Whitake) who is a bit of a superstitious man and one who is always picking up some sort of vibe from bad situations. This leads him to be the first real "foe" to Bryan Mills that we've seen in all three of the Taken films, not in a fighting skills sense but in being able to keep up with Bryan's trail as he looks for clues and tries to keep his daughter safe from whoever is after them. Dotzler is probably one of the more enjoyable characters in the film, his quirks are never really explained such as the rubber band on his arm or the chess pieces he seems to carry around but his attempts to catch Bryan are a heck of a lot better than what we've seen before. Bryan even has the advantages of having all his spy gear and tools but he is no spring chicken anymore, I chuckled at one scene where he had Kim give him some chocolate because of low blood sugar. 

There were however moments throughout Taken 3 that should have been more powerful that just weren't. A moment arises where Bryan and Dotzler speak on the phone and Bryan's "Good luck" response was clearly meant as a throw back to the first Taken but the scene shuffled along far too quickly and left no impact. That's pretty much how you can describe most of the events for the movie, trumped up action scenes and not one but two final showdown scenes, one at a swanky rich apartment suite and the other at an airport runway. Many of the action or suspenseful moments lose all their impact with the massive amount of cuts between what's happening and what Bryan is doing. The freeway scene is a perfect example of this, Bryan drives down the wrong side of the road with a commandeered police cruiser and causes untold damage and an out of control semi crushes a few vehicles. Stepping over the done to death notion behind this scene, it is not very powerful with the number of times the action cuts to something different and really just makes Taken 3 look like a cliche action flick, his final line to the police officer he releases doesn't help this either. 

Other lack luster aspects to the story come in form of Kim's little secret and the suddenly young Stuart who doesn't look to trusting. Yes, you'll see this one coming a mile away as Stuart's suspicious actions lead you to believe something is amiss but honestly by this film I would have though that he'd have been out of the picture and Bryan, Lenore and Kim would be living blissfully. Of course this is never the case in an action type film and if it is, it quickly gets torn down around you, this being a plot line I probably would have preferred more than the one I got. The plot line with Kim is pretty poor, the one nice thing that is revealed is that she is somewhat like her dad with his routines but other than that things take a step backwards. Bryan still treats her like a kid and after the swim suit scene and Grand Theft Auto style exploits she showed in Taken 2 you'd he would take the hint or at least the director would. 

Usually, a third movie in a franchise proves to be the one that brings it all back for me, the charm of the first Taken being reignited in my mind but Taken 3 doesn't do that. Really, the title shouldn't even be Taken 3 for a number of reason, the obvious joke one being that no one gets "taken" in the whole thing but there's also the fact that this movie has been done before and done far better at that. Liam Neeson is always a delight to watch kick some tale and I do enjoy anything with Forest Whitaker but they can only take my enjoyment so far and it's definitely not enough to save Taken 3. 

Good:

- Forest Whitaker as the quirky inspector

- Liam Neeson still kicking some tale

Bad:

- Puffed up action sequences

- Lack luster story and movie direction

- Pretty sure this movie has been done before i.e. The Fugitive, maybe go rent that instead

Scully Rating: 4.0 out of 10 

Alan Wake Review (By Robert Murphy)

Keep the lights on, please, because you’ll be wanting out of the shadows in the psychological horror, third person shooter that is “Alan Wake”, so make sure your flashlights batteries are change as you set out to fight your way through the darkness. Bestselling thriller writer Alan Wake, suffering from a two-year stretch of writer's block, travels with his wife Alice to the small idyllic town of Bright Falls, Washington, for a short vacation. Alan and Alice arrive at Cauldron Lake, where their cabin sits on an island within it. As they unpack, Alan discovers Alice has set up a typewriter, hoping Alan will try writing on the vacation this angers Alan and sets off for a brief walk alone, but races back to the cabin when he hears Alice's screams. He arrives too late as some entity drags Alice into the lake's water, and without a moment's hesitation, jumps in after her, blacking out upon impact; Alan comes to a week later, crashed after his car went off the side of the road outside of town. As he travels back to town, Alan witnesses multiple supernatural events, such as human figures shrouded in darkness that can only be defeated with light, and an ethereal figure wearing a deep-sea diving suit. He also finds pages of a manuscript for a book titled “Departure”, a work Alan recognizes as his own but doesn't remember writing it; the incoherent pages foretell events that come true as the story progresses.

“Alan Wake” can best be described as a combination of "the mind of a psychological thriller", and "the body of a cinematic action game, the main gameplay happens in various areas of Bright Falls – such as the forest, a national park, or a farm – during the nighttime; mixed with moments of a calmer aspect and non-combative sequences that are set during the day. As players take control of Alan the world around them is quickly overtaken by the "darkness" that’s taking over humans, animals and objects. These enemies, dubbed the "Taken", are murderous shadows that attack Alan, wielding weapons of their own that range from mallets and knives to heavier and dangerous weapons such as shovels and chainsaws. Also these shadows vary by speed, size, and the amount of damage they can take, and some can even teleport between short distances, as if the aspect of killer living shadows wasn’t messing with your head already. The Taken are protected by a shield of darkness, initially rendering them impervious to attack; they can only be injured with a firearm after exposure to light, which burns the darkness away, this puts significant emphasis on flashlights as well as conventional weapons, such as a revolver or shotgun. Your arsenal of light weaponry comes with options as well, while flashlight beams can be focused and used as a reticle, the handheld lights Alan can carry can be boosted, which destroys the darkness faster, but also reduces the light's battery level. Besides the conventional shooter gameplay need for reloading ammunition, the player must also insert fresh batteries into the flashlight when they run out, or wait for it to recharge but this occurs very slowly. In certain sections of the game, it is possible to use a car to traverse between locations in Bright Falls, when in a car, the player can run down Taken on the road, or boost the vehicle's headlights to destroy them.

A major element of gameplay is the optional discovery and collection of manuscript pages from Alan Wake's latest novel—Departure. Although Alan does not remember writing this book, its storyline seems to be becoming real around him and these readable manuscript pages are scattered around the game world, out of chronological order; they often describe scenes that have yet to occur and act as warning and instructions for proceeding through upcoming challenges. This being only one of the in game goodies to be collected however, there are a few different in game optional collectibles that include coffee thermoses scattered around the game world, as well as discovering television sets which show different episodes of the fictional Night Springs series, radios airing talk and music from Bright Falls' local radio station, and textual signs around the town.

“Alan Wake” truly provides for a unique gameplay experience for players, it provides the thrill of a good mystery/psychological horror book with the aspect of living it out as it unfolds right before your eyes. As players explore the well designed and in depth world of Bright Fall, you come across intriguing characters in this former little slice of heaven as well as dealing with a unique and frankly terrifying enemy, the dark; which, let’s face it, everyone has a momentary (if not lifelong) fear of. A problem with the game mainly lies in moving your character, as the third person camera view is already not something for everyone; it is sometimes hard to get going in the right way or to see your enemies which makes things even more frightening. “Alan Wake” however is a hard game to put down once you pick it up and provides plenty of laughs as well as chills and scares.

(Game reviewed on Xbox 360)

Good:

-Amazing story

-Well designed and grounded environment

-A chilling game that’s just so hard to put down

Bad:

-Not much for a lasting appeal after you’re done, except to go back for all the in game collectibles

Scully rating: 9.5 out of 10