I grew up on TV shows like TJ Hooker, C.H.I.P.S. and The A*Team.

Apparently so did Luc Besson and Olivier Megaton, the creator/writer and director of this third film in the Taken franchise starring Liam Neeson.

It seems we also graduated from those kids TV shows about cops to grown up LAPD shows like The Shield.

“Third film” is generous, as this is a movie for the big screen and big screen audiences. The kind of flick you’ll either see at the cinema, or on the back of a airplane seat on a long haul flight.

It does exactly what it says on the box, and if cat and mouse action thrills are your thing, then get onboard.

With enough fence jumping to put both Paul Fenech and Jason Bourne to shame, Liam Neeson probably could use a couple of knee reconstructions after the last decade or so of chasing bad guys.

If I’ve one complaint it’s that some of the action has spent too much time in the edit suite, and a portion of the cuts and associated camera motion almost made me travel sick.

Forest Whitaker plays the role of the cop –Franck Dotzler –  that’s always one step behind, even though he knows enough to be one step ahead with aplomb – and it’s a role he can play in his sleep. Funnily enough he did play pretty much the exact same role in season 5 & 6 of The Shield as Lieutenant Jon Kavanaugh and this is a nod to his fantastic effort there.

Just as Whitaker is capable of phoning a performance like this in and getting away with it, so too Luc Besson could easily knock off a film like this in his lunch break. It doesn’t make this instalment lazy, just more of the same and people lap it up.

I sure did.

Immensely entertaining.

3 Stars.