Taken 3 is supposed to be of the murder-mystery genre, yet, the murderer is so obvious the movie becomes more of an iSpy book than a full-fledged mystery.

Bryan Mills (Liam Neeson) is back yet again in the third installment of the Taken series. Tasked this time with finding the killer of his wife- Lenore (Famke Janssen)- Mills is taken on a roller coaster ride that derails all too early into the film.

The Taken series (at least the first) has always been a favorite of mine. Being the presumably last movie in the franchise, I was taken aback by how awful the plot was, and how predictable the mystery-esc film was.

All the original characters return from the prior series, along with a few new faces such as Forest Whitaker (as Franck) and Andrew Howard (as Maxim) that give the film an overall spectacular cast.

In fact, the best part of this movie is how the entire cast contributes to the ever-confusing story. The development of each character shows progress as Taken 3 continues forward, and does an excellent job of establishing each character as more than just an actor/actress.

However, not even a well-developed cast could have saved Taken 3. For starters, the plot is just down-right lost.  Lenore gets murdered within the first ten minutes of the movie, Bryan becomes angered, goes on a hunt to find the killer, and about half-way through the film, finds out a plot-twist that can only be foreseen by anyone who watches the first ten minutes of the show.

Another major issue in Taken 3 is the atmosphere. Taken brought about a darker, more realistic atmosphere, and Taken 2 was a little lighter, yet still committed to the atmosphere. Taken 3 had multiple switches of atmosphere (ranging from heart-felt moments, to an all-out shoot-out) and honestly felt as though the directors had no idea where they wanted to take the movie.

Taken 3 should have saved the series. Taken 3 should have been the blockbuster conclusion that brought the finale to a well-deserved close. Unfortunately, for Liam Neeson and the directors, the movie that set out to “end it all,” ended with an average set of three stars.