A Chamada

I went into this not knowing anything about it; I didn't know it was a remake nor what the plot is. Turns out, it's a contained thriller that's quite well-paced, managing to wring enough tension and suspense out of its simple premise with strong editing.

Neeson and some of the other cast members really do give it their all, and they bring life to the film that makes up for the bland direction and cinematography.

While most of the time the movie is compulsively watchable, what really holds it back is the script. It's bad.

It's a strange kind of bad that really does feel like this screenplay was generated by ChatGPT. Nearly all of the dialogue is stilted and generic, and the story moves kind of haphazardly, as though a machine were calculating what was the next appropriate action movie plot point to throw in next.

I guess it's better than many of the other beige action flicks Neeson has churned out over the years, but it's still far from good.

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.

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.

When I walked out of the theater I almost felt... empty... but I don't wanna say that the movie is bad, but... then again, I don't wanna say the movie is good either. It's your standard Liam Neeson thriller (with a little less action), but has the ability to keep you on the edge of your seat throughout. Luckily, the movie is only an hour and a half long, so it's not excruciatingly long. The main twist of the movie was sort of surprising, but at the same time made sense in the grand scheme of things, so I guess it could be considered 'predictable' depending on who you ask. I guess at this point I'll just throw it smack dab in the middle. As a I wrote before, not good, not bad. 5/10.

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.