Verdict: 2.5/5
Liam Neeson is back in the driver’s seat of a new high-stakes thriller in ‘Retribution’ – but why does it feel like we’ve watched this movie before?
If there’s one thing Neeson is going to do, it’s play an action man who is fighting to protect his always-in-danger family. And although it’s worked in previous movies, it’s not enough to save ‘Retribution’.
This time around the 71-year-old plays Matt Turner, a successful Berlin based American businessman who prioritises his work over his family – made obvious by his frustration at having to simply drive his kids (played by Lilly Aspell and Jack Champion) to school.
But to make the school run even worse, Matt receives a phone call from a mysterious voice telling him there’s a bomb under his seat.
If he doesn’t do exactly what he’s told, the bomb will go off, killing him and his kids.
From there, the movie really kicks into gear as Matt races against the clock to save himself and his family, with the body count rising along the way.
Taking place almost entirely in a car, Neeson isn’t fighting bad guys or racing around the city to find his family this time around. But aside from that, ‘Retribution’ plays out in a very similar way to his other movies.
Although the 90-minute film wraps everything up with a good twist and car chase, the movie ends in a rather anti-climactic way and you’re left thinking “is that it?”.
When it comes down to it though, ‘Retribution’ isn’t a terrible film – it’s just not a particularly memorable one.
See this movie now at Hoyts Penrith.
Ellie Busby
Ellie Busby is a news reporter for Western Sydney Publishing Group. A graduate of the University of Hertfordshire and Western Sydney University, she is a journalism Major. Ellie has worked with Universal Media, The Cova Project and for a range of other projects.