Liam Neeson is a father of school children?! Liam Neeson is 71. Liam Neeson looks 71. I mean, sure, stuff like this happens, I suppose, but when Neeson doesn’t fulfill parental obligations, don’t we just attribute it to dementia or “gramps fell asleep again?”
Clearly a film written for a younger man, Retribution scored the coup of collecting name action hero Liam Neeson to the starring role. Liam is quite the bully these days. His constant appearances in action film beg the question, “is there really nobody better -or, at least, younger- than this?” Liam Neeson is now 71 and although I’ve reviewed at least twenty Neeson action films in the last decade, I seem to have missed a few.
Well, gosh, how does this one distinguish itself from the rest? Neeson doesn’t punch anybody here. In fact, he sits for almost the entire film. The film has him work out at the start perhaps just to show he isn’t animatronic. After disappointing his wife, Matt Turner (Neeson), gets guilted into driving the kids to school. Neeson is Neeson and his kids are clearly American, so why they’re all in Germany isn’t explained. Nor is the fact that when Neeson gets comfortable behind the wheel, he’s sitting on an activated bomb. The movie shows us a few car bombings to let us know it’s totally serious.
Matt is some sort of money guy who works with a bunch if money guys, including his boss (Matthew Modine), doing money things making money for money and money. So when the film has more than one character say the line, “you’re doing this for money?!” as if we were dealing with free love hippies is the very soul of disingenuousness. Of course this
about money. These guys live in a world of money; people described that way barely know there are other ways to live.
So of course there’s a mad bomber out for cash and there’s a phone hidden in Matt’s car and he has to play nice and be a father while his world crumbles around him. This is pretty standard Neeson stuff, TBH. Yeah, fair premise if hardly unique. Retribution -and awful title for this film- borrows generously from films like Speed and Phone Booth. The film lost me when the police all seem to believe Matt is the cause of the bombings despite sitting on an activated bomb with his kids in the car. That’s some good police work, Lou.
Retribution is one of those films where nothing makes sense. Nothing. Not the least of which is “how old do you have to be before money isn’t a motivation?” *Sigh* That’s probably one of the few things the film got right – greed knows know age. Look at Trump still grifting after all these years. But I cannot say the plot or the plot twist did anything for me, intelligence-wise, and I would LOVE LOVE LOVE to know how Matt escapes the police barricade unscathed and then loses all the cops within two blocks. Wow. You guys just suck at police work, doncha? If you have gotten to the point in your life where Liam Neeson has done everything he’s ever gonna do for you already, give this one a miss.
A financial dude marked for his greed
Gets involved in a snafu, indeed
There’s a bomb in his car
Controlled from afar
Remind me why I’m not watching Speed
Rated R, 91 Minutes
Director: Nimród Antal (Seriously? “Nimród?” You’re clearly NOT American)
Writer: Alberto Marini, Christopher Salmanpour
Genre: Liam Needs one more go
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: I dunno, mad bombers maybe?
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: “Haven’t we seen enough Liam Neeson films?”
