Valerian And The City Of A Thousand Planets (2017) - Movie Review

Outside of Luc Besson being an idiosyncratic director (shorthand for “he has his own style that I am unable to put into words”), I don’t have anything new to say about the guy that I haven’t already said in reviews past. As such, I’ll forgo my usual introduction and just get right into this thing because I am legit excited to be talking about this movie.

The Transporter Refueled (2015) - Movie Review

Luc Besson is one of the greatest action writers in cinematic history. Debate the quality of his overall filmography as much as you like, and he has definitely ventured into weird-ass territory numerous times throughout his time in the industry, but in terms of his impact to the genre, people seem to forget how much he’s done. Between rejuvenating Liam Neeson’s career (for better or for worse) with Taken, helping to rescue Jet Li’s American reputation with Kiss Of The Dragon and giving Jean Reno the role he will always be remembered best for with Léon: The Professional, you’d be hard-pressed to find someone who has affected the landscape as much as him. Hell, even with how ridiculous Lucy was, Scarlett Johansson’s action credentials are still secure regardless of the Marvel Cinematic Universe because of it. However, of all of his creations, his greatest contribution to the world of film would be introducing Jason Statham to a wider audience with the Transporter series. So, when a new addition was announced to the series, you better believe we were excited… until we discovered that Mr. Statham wouldn’t be returning for it.

Taken 3 (2015) - Movie Review

Even in today’s cinematic day and age, the threequel still presents a challenge both for creators and audiences. In order to keep audiences invested enough to stick it out for a third film based in the same universe, the creators need to create a story that is worthy of being continued for that long for whatever reason. Whether it’s pre-conceived to be a trilogy, like Star Wars or Peter Jackson’s Tolkien adaptations, or it adds on films based on public or studio demand, like The Matrix or Pirates Of The Caribbean, there needs to be that factor that brings people back into theatres. With Taken still well and truly in the current cultural mindset, with it being attached in one way or another to everything Liam Neeson stars in (even prior to Taken retroactively), it does make some sense that this would be chosen for a third installment. Time to see how this supposed final film closes out the series.

Taken 2 (2012) - Movie Review

With the release of the third film in the Taken series now out, I find myself in a similar position to when Mockingjay came out late last year and needing to catch up a bit. Having not seen the first Taken film in several years, I went back and revisited that one first and… have to admit, it’s a lot better than I remember it being. Maybe it’s with the benefit of hindsight, but re-watching it definitely gave the impression that this was a film that warranted the success it had with Liam Neeson giving something of a career rejuvenating performance as the lead. However, given the severe case of sequelitis Hollywood suffers from, something has become very clear: A film being good on its own is by no means a guarantee that whatever follow-ups said film gets will be good. Sure, some films will be just as good as the original and sometimes may even surpass the original (Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes and How To Train Your Dragon 2 from last year were great examples of this), but it sadly isn’t always the case.