Retribution is a 2023 action thriller directed by Nimród Antal, based on a screenplay by Christopher Salmanpour and Andrew Baldwin. Jaume Collet-Serra, known for films like The Commuter, The Shallows, Run All Night, and Non-Stop, serves as a producer on the film.

When a mysterious caller puts a bomb under his car seat, Matt Turner (Liam Neeson) begins a high-speed chase across the city to complete a specific series of tasks. With his kids trapped in the back seat and a bomb that will explode if they get out of the car, a normal commute becomes a twisted game of life or death as Matt follows the stranger's increasingly dangerous instructions in a race against time to save his family.

The cast includes Liam Neeson, Jack Champion, Embeth Davidtz, Arian Moayed, Matthew Modine, Noma Dumezweni, and Emily Kusche.

Retribution made its debut in theaters on August 25th, courtesy of Lionsgate.

THE GOOD

I know what you’re thinking, another damn Liam Neeson movie, right? To be honest, I was thinking the same thing, but Neeson is my guy and I respect his hustle. The 71-year-old actor hasn’t shown many signs of slowing down, continuing to churn out his trademark action thrillers. I last reviewed his film Memory (our full review here) from last April where he starred alongside Guy Pearce, and it was actually pretty good. Much better than the majority of critics wanted to lead you to believe. Neeson’s movies all seem to be relatively similar, which is fine as long as they find a way to entertain viewers and utilize his “particular set of skills”. That said, is his latest film Retribution better than expected or just a dud trying to bank on the name of its lead actor? Keep reading to find out!

It wasn’t a complete dud, but Retribution is just not that good of a movie. I wouldn’t deter people from watching it, but the only way I would say it is worth the theater experience is if you are a diehard Liam Neeson fan because he is the saving grace for this film. On the flip side of that, I do think his talent as an actor was wasted, but I will talk more about that later. As far as the positives, I felt like the technical elements of the film were pretty good overall utilizing some creative camera work.

I also thought the score and soundtrack were very much a bright spot. I thought the story had a chance to offer up enough to keep viewers entertained, but I felt like instead of building on the events that transpired in the first act it went off the rails a bit which caused me to lose interest. I did enjoy the ending for the most part, although the special effects were just okay and it was one of those movies that just sort of ends once the dust settles. I suppose the fact that it was only an hour and 30 minutes was a pro as well, and I will say I’m not quite sure why the film was rated R, unless perhaps exploding cars is all it takes these days.

THE BAD

Retribution is certainly one of Liam Neeson’s lesser-quality films as of late. I really didn’t expect too much going in, but I was fairly bored during the majority of the movie. The film is incredibly linear as 95% of it is Neeson driving around and talking on the phone, but other films have taken a similar approach and found a way to build anticipation. Unfortunately, Retribution has a paper-thin storyline, and even more than that it never really gets off the ground in terms of the suspense that you need for a film that falls within the action thriller genre.

It starts out strong for the most part and just sort of becomes stagnant instead of building on the story and finding ways to create suspense. The character development is basically nonexistent, and even more than that the writers try to add unnecessary layers to the story when they can’t even seem to execute the basics. The cast in general was meh, but Jack Champion was okay overall as one of Neeson’s kids, but just a strange and very limiting role for him. Also, I like me some Matthew Modine, who by the way has the most ridiculous all-over-the-place filmography dating back to 1982, but he just seemed like he was bored in his role.

Plus for some reason, they decided it was a good idea for 71-year-old Neeson to have a daughter who seemed to be around 12 and that just made zero sense to me. Right away I was shaking my head, and if anything that surely distracted me from getting immersed in the story. The cast in general was bland, and although Neeson was solid in the lead role as he always is, he was severely underutilized here and the film suffered for it.

Let’s just take one of the better action stars working today and turn him into a boring suburban dad with marital issues, I mean come on. I talked about the plot twist being a positive for the film, and it was, but that is mainly because it caught me off guard. I am still trying to make sense of what the point of the twist was as it relates to the story, but I guess I will never know.

THE VERDICT

A pretty lackluster Liam Neeson film that veers away from his skillset and finds itself stuck in cruise control as a result, Retribution suffers from an overall bland story and a considerable lack of energy and enthusiasm from all involved.

If there is a lesson to be learned here, people want to see Liam Neeson as the badass, not the dad with two bickering kids who just want to annoy him during business calls. I mean, that is basically my actual real life so I don’t need to see it during my time away from the kids. I understand that actors often hate to be typecast, but as the old saying goes, if it ain’t broke don’t fix it. I’m not giving up on my guy, I just hope he follows this up with something much better in the very near future.