It would seem that this writer is in an ever-dwindling minority, as they remain seated in the waiting room for entry to the growing bored of the Neeson season action films club. Indeed, we certainly aren’t there yet. True, of late, some of the Irish hard man’s recent films like Memory and Blacklight may have fallen flat, but his always reliably sturdy work in the lead and his chosen filmography’s throwback charms keep winning us over. And this remake of the 2015 Spanish thriller El Desconocido is another to add to the collection.
His latest action vehicle (literally) is kind of like Speed in the family Mercedes, and by golly gosh, it is another ‘90s thriller blast! The story sees Neeson play Matt Turner, a financier at Nanite Capital in Berlin, whose job is straining his relationship somewhat with his wife and kids. However, one morning on the school run, Matt is contacted by an anonymous caller, who has informed him that there is a pressure-triggered explosive under the car seat that will go off unless Matt does exactly as this mysterious bomber asks.
Some of the story beats probably won’t hold up to intense scrutiny (of course), but like Non-Stop, Unknown, Honest Thief, The Ice Road, and The Commuter before it, this writer was having too much fun to really care about that. Hey, sue us; this stuff is still working for many of us in that apparent minority!
The sterling work of both director Nimród Antal (Predators) and Neeson conjure some real thrills out of this zippy, blowy-uppy plot device, while the story actually works relatively hard in getting you to care for the family in crisis and not just see them go kaboom. There’s even a pretty decent twist and some good lines of dialogue thrown in for good measure.
The ending itself may be a bit spontaneous (with closing credits radio news reports filling in any gaps), though fair play for how they actually found a somewhat bonkers way out of this seemingly inescapable situation, and the concise and energetic 90 minutes getting there flies by like one of those mad drivers trying to beat the morning traffic. Though they don’t have a bomb under the car seat as an excuse!
Of course, you have seen some of this stuff before, but our reliable hero still looks good doing his thing, while there are some slickly-delivered thrills to enjoy that will eventually be right at home on those Saturday night action seasons on the classier TV Channels. Preferably while enjoying a nice takeaway meal or some snacks. That said, seeing Retribution on the big screen feels equally just right… if not more so.
Liam Neeson will return… probably in another deadly vehicle trap, trying to clear his name against another barmy bomber or criminal madman, and we will be seated right there for every minute of it. There is something comforting about these types of movies, which rarely are made at all nowadays, let alone so confidently and efficiently.
Retribution is in UK cinemas from October 27th.
