If you were asked to name an action thriller co-written and produced by Luc Besson set in, around, and across Europe that featured an aging star playing a retired special agent undertaking one last job in an effort to protect their daughter from unsavory forces, there’s no chance 3 Days to Kill would be the first title to come out of your mouth.
The obvious answer is Taken, but based on how critics and crowds reacted to the insufferable McG’s attempt to try and piggyback on the breakout smash hit, it doesn’t need to be spelled out that Kevin Costner’s world-weary antics were no match for Liam Neeson throat-punching his way through a small army.
Workmanlike to a fault, 3 Days to Kill wasn’t outright trashed by critics and didn’t tank spectacularly at the box office, but a 27 percent approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a $52 million take from theaters on a $28 million budget is hardly something worth shouting about from the rooftops, either.
Disposable shoot ’em ups are about as bulletproof as their heroes on streaming, though, which is no doubt why the unstoppably unremarkable intercontinental adventure has gunned down the competition to emerge as one of the most-watched movies around the world on ad-supported platform Freevee, per FlixPatrol.
3 Days to Kill wasn’t the first blatant Taken ripoff – nor was it the last by any stretch of the imagination – but it might be in with a shout at being deemed the most forgettable, which is arguably worse.