Although Liam Neeson mentioned retiring from his action movie career in 2015, he still sticks to his forte genre. From The Commuter to Honest Thief, The Marksman… he always affirmed the class of a ‘godfather’ on screen.

When mentioning Liam Neeson , people immediately remember a veteran of the action movie genre. Famous for his role as Bryan Mills in the Taken series (since 2008), the star born in 1952 has continuously conquered the box office with a series of blockbusters in his forte: The A-Team, The Gray, The Unknown, Non- stop, Run All Night … However, in recent years, this “veteran” began to intend to stop pursuing the film line that helped revive his name. In 2015, he opened up about his intention to retire from acting in action films, but since then, the actor has regularly appeared in works of this genre: The Commuter (2018), Honest Thief (2020), The Marksman (2021) and in the future Blacklight … 
Liam Neeson’s intention to retire from his action movie career had been forgotten, but in a conversation with Entertainment Tonight in January 2021, he once again mentioned this issue. The actor said that his time in action movies is about to end because of his advanced age. “I am 68 and a half years old, and will turn 69 this year. I will do a few more works and then I hope the epidemic situation will change positively, allowing us to complete some projects. project is in progress. Then I will stop,” the veteran star shared. This made fans confused once again and his recent works received special attention.

Even though he announced that he would soon retire from action movies, Liam Neeson has never left the screen. He still regularly appears in works of this genre, some of which have not yet been released

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Honest Thief (Vietnamese title: Payback mission ) is one of Liam Neeson’s notable works. The film was released in theaters at the end of 2020, but due to the Covid-19 epidemic , the work’s release scale was limited, resulting in modest revenue. Recently, Honest Thief received renewed interest when it was released on online platforms to serve a wider audience. If Liam Neeson really retires, this will be one of the U.70 star’s last action movies.
In the movie, the hero of the Taken series transforms into super thief Tom Carter. Because he met the true love of his life, he decided to redeem himself and proactively called the police to hand over the huge amount of money he had stolen. But it turns out that being a good person is not easy when there are many other forces trying to steal that money, forcing him and his lover into a dangerous spiral. Tom Carter must use all his “fighting” experience from many years of being a super thief to both defend and attack to block the enemy’s moves and at the same time protect his girlfriend from danger. 

Although he wants to return to his senses and find a new peaceful life, once his girlfriend Annie’s life is threatened, Tom does not hesitate to “turn on revenge mode”, ready to destroy anyone who stands in his way.

Still has a determined, poised face and beautiful action scenes, but instead of having an aggressive, strong and fierce image like Agent Bryan searching for his daughter in  Taken , Liam Neeson’s Tom Carter in  Honest Thief  has a different color. The new character is strong in mind, choosing to be defensive rather than proactively attacking, but is also willing to fight for loved ones and to have a peaceful life.
Tom Carter is the character who maintains the balance of the entire Honest Thief story line , shown through his wise moves in planning to defeat the enemy, as well as his emotional aspect for his girlfriend Annie who is also in love. fell into dire straits because of being pursued. Although he is no longer at his peak like Taken , Liam Neeson is still strong enough to overwhelm the audience with small but still extremely high-quality and satisfying fight scenes. In addition, the veteran actor also successfully expressed a series of emotions of a man whose loved ones are in danger: from panic and anxiety when realizing that the person he loves has been harmed to strong will. , strongly resisted.

Honest Thief integrates a familiar but profound story: not every sinner cannot be redeemed and even the most righteous people can have evil intentions. The ideological conflict between Tom and the fallen police association as well as the magic power of money has pushed everyone into a lose-lose situation.

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The payback mission clearly defines the two main hostile forces of the film. One side is the male protagonist with the desire to rebuild his life, the other side is the fallen police officers. The film pushes the temptation of money directly, without hiding it. For money, Tom swept 12 banks and brought back 9 million USD and now regrets his past crimes. Because of money, honest policemen like John Nivens (Jai Courtney) and Ramon Hall (Anthony Ramos) suddenly broke down, stopping at nothing to take money from Tom. Both sides initially did not know each other and had no enmity, but with their desire for material things, they pushed each other into life and death without realizing that their family was still there, waiting for them to return home safely every day. …
Honest Thief faced many compliments and criticisms about its content, but Liam Neeson’s impressive performance always received positive feedback. Movieplayer praised Payback as an effective action film, making good use of the “about to retire” charm of Liam Neeson, an actor whom this site calls “an action icon that never disappoints”. Critic writer Frank Scheck said in The Hollywood Reporter that “the movie delivers exactly what you expect.”  The revenge mission  is currently being shown in the Feature Film section on the FPT Television system.