The premise of the “Taken” franchise is simple: someone gets taken, and then Liam Neeson kicks a bunch of ass to get them back. It’s a formula that has been very financially lucrative across two films so far, so if it isn’t broke, don’t fix it, right? Wrong. It would seem that Liam Neeson cares quite deeply about not repeating himself and has offered a rather interesting clue about the next installment of the franchise, set to shoot this spring.
“They called me up and I said, ‘I’ll do it… but only as long as nobody gets taken.’ ” he told UK talk show host Jonathan Ross (via Bleeding Cool). Wait, what? Does not compute. So is “Taken 3” going to be called “Not Taken“? What reason does near retiree Bryan Mills need to fight for if not for family? I guess we’re intrigued to find out?
Anyway, Neeson is back in punching form later this month in “Non-Stop,” which is basically a “Taken On A Plane.” He plays an air marshal who receives from texts from a mysterious passenger on board promising to kill people unless he gets $150 million wire transferred into his account. And Neeson takes care of business in this first clip from the movie, where he roughs up Scoot McNairy. After that you watch a TV spot for the flick. “Non-Stop” opens on February 28th.