Retribution

Retribution is barely for those of us who fell in love with Neeson when he did the ultimate man meal Taken. Ever snice That trilogy I've been running to the theatres to watch Neeson flicks and this is the Frist time I actually said to myself why (which i now found surprising).

Not to say this was a bad movie, but it really seemed unnecessary. Wild thing, it feels like a similar plot to a better Neeson movie the Commuter. The movies may seem polarizingly deferent but if you seen The Commuter you'll notice the same plot devices creating the same loop holes in both, but the Commuter is worth seeing while i could have skipped Retribution altogether.

I don't know where to start.... The dialogues are bad, wooden, and cheesy. The acting is far from enjoyable. The characters are dull and absolutely undeveloped. There is no motivation for the bad guy I can find. The Police and "Europol" are far from realistic, and speaking of Europol: this is not a European FBI, as shown in the movies. And of course the way they show Berlin hurts to see. They drive down one street, the next turn he is 20km away in another part of the town.

I'm just happy I saw this in a sneak preview with cheap tickets, because if it was a regular screening with full price tickets I would have demanded a refund.

Shallow is the best word I can come up with. This is the worse character script writing I've seen for any Liam film but it is still a passable film (barely). Lots of stereotyping about the kids, wife, cops and much of the supporting cast. A few holes in the storyline, too. However, if you're a Liam fan, you'll get through it. The editing was actually pretty good but there are lots of gaps that have you wondering "what's taking so long?". I think this could have been 2-3 stars better with some decent writing and less predictability with many of the characters. It was just very shallow and Liam deserves a lot better.

Of course there was no doubt about me having to sit down and watch this 2023 action crime thriller as it had Liam Neeson on the cast list. Sure, I had never even heard about the movie prior to watching it, not that it really mattered, as it was a Liam Neeson movie.

The storyline in "Retribution", as written by Alberto Marini and Christopher Salmanpour, sort of was very similar to the 1994 movie "Speed", except that it was lacking the high speed and adrenaline. It was watchable, for sure, but it was not a top notch movie for Liam Neeson. The storyline was a bit too much of a copy and paste of "Speed", except it was in a SUV and had a slightly different plot.

The acting performances in the movie were good, and while Liam Neeson didn't have a particular set of skills in "Retribution", then he still carried the movie well enough to make it a watchable movie. There are a couple of other familiar faces on the cast list, with the likes of Embeth Davidtz, Matthew Modine, and Jack Champion.

I found "Retribution" to be somewhat lacking in thrills and excitement, and the movie's plot and storyline was a tad too linear and predictable for my liking. Plus, the fact that if you've already seen "Speed", then you have essentially also already seen director Nimród Antal's "Retribution".

Watchable for what it was, "Retribution" didn't impress me, nor did it revolutionize the action crime thriller genre. In fact, it didn't bring anything new at all to the genre. And on that account, my rating of director Nimród Antal's "Retribution" lands on a bland five out of ten stars.

It's not a great movie by any means. I did not know walking into this movie it was a remake, but I sure hope the original was better. But what this movie lacked in dialogue, acting ability, characters, it made up for in story.

The overall plot of the movie is good. I love a good low budget thriller, and that's exactly what this was. Liam Neeson had to be this movies biggest expense, because everything was shot in a Mercedes Benz (btw this movie did not make me want to buy that car). The story was not completely predictable and it had some good moments that were fun to watch in a theatre.

But that's it. Other than that, the acting is terrible. The dialogue for the first 15min of the movie felt like it was written by AI and I almost left. And every character is as bland as an off brand cereal from Walmart.

Listen, if you like Liam Neeson thrillers, go see this, but don't expect anything spectacular. It will entertain but it does not go beyond its surface level plot line.