10 Movie Franchises That Should Have Stopped At One Film
6. Taken
Taken turned Liam Neeson into an unlikely action hero. Since the success of that movie in 2008, Neeson has basically reprised his new found ass-kicker status in every other movie he has made. Problem is, what worked once, partly because of surprise factor, soon gets old. The more we see of Neeson, the less he looks like the heir apparent to Schwarzenegger and Stallone - not even a Dolph Lundgren, truth be told.
The visceral thrill of watching Neeson take apart the bad guys as a one man revenge wrecking crew was immense. He even got to have an Arnie-like moment of perennially quoted dialogue with the famous 'I've got a unique set of skills' phone call.
Right away the problem with Taken 2 was obvious. The daughter's role was bumped up, to the devastating detriment of the movie. Clue guys - everybody hated her role in the first! It still did good business, predominantly on the anticipation and goodwill created by the original. Looks like three is the last though, so good news on that front at least.