“Taken 3,” or as it should be more aptly named, “Liam Neeson and his super spy friends solve a murder,” is the latest and final installment of the Taken Trilogy. As a huge Liam Neeson fan, I walked into this movie with high hopes. But due to a multitude of factors, my hopes were dashed against the rocks.

Bryan Mills’ (Liam Neeson) life is once again flipped upside down when his ex-wife Lenore (Famke Janssen) is discovered dead in his apartment. Instead of cooperating with the authorities, Brian goes AWOL and knocks out two police officers before escaping. Brian is then pursued by Inspector Franck Dotzler (Forest Whitaker), who attempts to apprehend Brian for the murder.

Grievance #1 with this movie: The movie is entitled “Taken 3,” but no one’s even taken. Seriously? This movie was just a cash grab excuse to have Liam Neeson star in yet another action flick.

Grievance #2 with this movie: The directing. I’m sorry but how on earth is Olivier Megaton allowed to direct movies? This movie was so sloppy I almost mistook it for a Michael Bay flick. Heck, this was even worse than a Michael Bay movie. The camera does not stay on a single shot for more than 5 seconds. This continuous jumping around made chase scenes nearly impossible to follow, simply muddling the movie with confusion.

Maggie Grace once again shines as Kim Mills, Bryan’s helpless daughter who can only seem to manage to cry and whine throughout the movie. Her limited role reinforces the repetitive nature and lack of originality in this series.

Neeson delivers a stellar performance as usual despite the hindrances of hacky dialogue and scenes that look like they were shot by someone on drugs.

The plot culminates with a solid ending that makes some sense, but makes a good 40 percent of the movie obsolete and unneeded.

“Taken 3” is essentially the same movie as the first two, minus the actual kidnappings. If you’re a fan of Liam Neeson, this movie is worth seeing solely for the action scenes he’s in, but if not, steer clear.