Video: ‘Taken 3’ trailer: This time, Liam Neeson is on the run

The hunter has become the hunted in the new trailer for “Taken 3,” the next -- and supposedly final -- installment of the hit action franchise starring Liam Neeson as a butt-kicking family man with a “very particular set of skills.” (Watch the trailer above.)

You’d think that ex-special-forces operative Bryan Mills (Neeson) deserves a breather after saving his daughter (Maggie Grace) from human traffickers in “Taken” and rescuing his ex-wife (Famke Janssen) from vindictive mobsters in “Taken 2.”

Alas, just when he thinks he’s out, they pull him back in: Mills arrives home one day to find his former spouse murdered and himself framed for the crime. The only way to clear his name and protect his daughter is, of course, to punch, kick and shoot through anyone who stands in his way, whether LAPD, FBI, CIA or some other unlucky acronym.

Judging from the trailer, “Taken 3” -- also styled oh-so-edgily as “Tak3n” -- has plenty to offer fans of the first two films, which combined to gross more than $600 million at the worldwide box office. There’s copious action (courtesy of returning director Olivier Megaton), another script by Luc Besson and Robert Mark Kamen, lots of steely Neeson-ness and even an inversion of the first film’s famous “good luck” scene.”

By the same token, it’s unlikely that “Taken 3” (opening Jan. 9, 2015) will change the minds of moviegoers who didn’t care for the previous outings.

Either way, Neeson has said that the third film will likely wrap up the franchise, and in the trailer his character promises, “I’m going to finish this.” Maybe this time the bad guys will finally take a hint. If not, we might just see a “T4ken.”

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