In the film set to release at the end of August, Liam Neeson continues to play a familiar action-fighting role that has defined his on-screen image for the past 15 years since the fateful phone call in ‘Taken’.

At the age of 71, Liam Neeson has had a successful acting career with numerous nominations and awards, including one Oscar nomination, one BAFTA award, and three Golden Globes. He was also ranked 7th in The Irish Times’ list of the 50 greatest Irish film actors and was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 2000 for his contributions to the arts.

Career Turning Point

After success with roles that delved deep into emotional and psychological depths, establishing his name in the film industry with characters like Oskar Schindler (Schindler’s List – 1993), Michael Collins, Jean Valjean (Les Misérables – 1998), Liam Neeson made a surprising shift.

About 15 years ago, a scene where his character, former CIA operative Bryan Mills, calmly threatens the gang that kidnapped his daughter with a deep, husky voice: “If you let my daughter go now, that’ll be the end of it. I will not look for you, I will not pursue you. But if you don’t, I will look for you, I will find you, and I will kill you,” changed Liam Neeson’s acting career.

According to The Atlantic, it marked the beginning of a surprising return in a new persona for the Irish actor. In his late 50s, he suddenly became an action star. Subsequent films with a similar tone to Taken (2008) often set in Europe featured Neeson as an aging man with a gun, wearing a leather jacket, and demonstrating impressive combat skills honed from his younger days.

Besides the Taken series with three films released in 2008, 2012, and 2014 revolving around former agent Bryan Mills and his family, other notable titles include Non-Stop (2014), The Commuter (2018), Cold Pursuit (2019), and The Ice Road (2021).

It seems that Liam Neeson himself did not intend to shift his acting career to become a classic action star. However, a pivotal film changed everything. This is somewhat similar to Keanu Reeves’ resurgence in John Wick.

The Metaphor of ‘Retribution’

Retribution (2023), which premiered in the last week of August in France, the US, and many other places worldwide, continues to feature Liam Neeson in a familiar action role.

In Retribution, the 70-year-old actor plays a man trapped in a car, unable to escape. The Atlantic calls this a fitting metaphor for his shift to action films late in his career.

Liam Neeson plays Matt Turner, a finance expert driving his two teenage children, played by Jack Champion and Lilly Aspell. After driving for a while, they receive a mysterious call informing them that the car is rigged with explosives and they cannot escape.

The story somewhat resembles the classic film Speed (1994) starring Keanu Reeves, about a bus rigged with a bomb that would explode if it slows down. Most of the action scenes in Retribution involve Matt driving around the city, engaging in tense conversations with an anonymous terrorist, whose voice is distorted.

However, initial reviews from The Atlantic suggest certain weaknesses in Liam Neeson’s latest thriller. The film’s repetitive scenes of Matt crashing the car, recovering, and diving into the next action sequence monotonously rob the film of any breakthrough opportunities.

Liam Neeson’s performance in Retribution lacks the coldness, edginess, and resolute action that made Taken an unexpected success. Matt has no spine-chilling threats; instead, he weakly pleads, “I just want my life back!”.

Fifteen years after the release of Taken, Liam Neeson has generated significant appeal for low-budget action thrillers. Now, it might be time for him to let go of this particular set of skills.