Retribution - I'm a big fan of the Liam Neeson thrillers, which is pretty much a sub-genre of its own by now. Some are really great films, like Cold Pursuit, and even the weaker ones, like Ice Road, are still usually good, solid fun. This newest one, sadly, is one of the weaker ones, even though it starts really well. 90% of the whole film is confined to a single car, with a bomb in it, and Neeson following the commands of a voice on the phone threatening to blow up him and his kids. The first half of the film, maybe a little more, makes a good use of this very simple but effective premise. It's tense, and Neeson is the perfect actor to anchor a film that almost entirely relies on a single actor selling you on the drama of his predicament.
Unfortunately, the "whodunnit" part of it is almost laughably obvious (might it be the only other semi-well known actor in the film?), and the tension that was so well bult up is almost all gone for the actual climax, which doesn't really make too much sense anyway. Still, a 90-minute movie that relies almost entirely on a single, driver-seat-bound actor does stand out from the 2-3 hours long, $300 million blockbusters that fill the big screen these days, so even with a disappointing ending I'd say I had an ok time with it.
Post edited August 28, 2023 by Breja