Worth: $10.00
FilmInk rates movies out of $20 — the score indicates the amount we believe a ticket to the movie to be worth
Cast:
Liam Neeson, Jack Champion, Embeth Davidtz, Lilly Aspell, Noma Dumezweni, Matthew Modine
Intro:
Neeson does the best that he can with a turd of a screenplay ...
It is safe to assume that with every passing year, we will be getting another instalment in Liam Neeson’s action catalogue. What started out as a retired CIA agent with ‘a very particular set of skills’ in Taken has transpired into a decade of films where Neeson thwarts the evildoings of drug-dealers, corrupt FBI agents and sex-traffickers; all with the same bemused look on his face.
In Retribution, Neeson takes on the role of investment banker Matt Turner, who just can’t seem to fulfil his responsibilities of being a loving father and husband. He decides to rectify this one morning by driving his kids Zach (Jack Champion) and Emily (Lilly Aspell) to school. In typical action film logic, however, that one good deed puts them all in danger as he unknowingly triggers a bomb under his car seat, and puts them in the midst of a nefarious serial bomber’s plan to wreak havoc in the city of Berlin.
To its credit, Retribution is better than its generic title and concept would first suggest. However, it is far from the nail-biting thrills of vehicular action films Speed and Unstoppable that it obviously takes inspiration from.
All the cliches of those films are found here in abundance: corny dialogue, incredible leaps in logic, time-sensitive challenges to solve, and personal stakes for the heroes. As a result, the film never feels like a slog going at a breakneck speed for 90 minutes, but there is an undeniably dry delivery of its action components. A tragedy, especially coming from director Nimród Antal, who made the surprisingly solid Predators and enjoyable slasher Vacancy. Retribution pales in comparison; coming off as cheap, creatively stagnant and unoriginal.
The film’s saving grace is Liam Neeson. Though one can certainly argue his merits as an action hero, he thankfully doesn’t depend on the boring gun-toting maniac made popular by Taken this time around. Here, he believably sells this brooding father/husband, that despite his grievances towards his family, holds a deep love for his wife and children. There is a level of sincerity here that makes one wish he would return to playing roles such as the romantic hero Rob Roy and American sexologist Alfred Kinsey.
Essentially, Neeson does the best that he can with a turd of a screenplay by Alberto Marini and Christopher Salmanpour, that really cannot be polished no matter the talent of the cast and crew. It does keep you guessing, but falls hard on its face in a third act that can only be described as obscenely stupid, and a reminder to not ever rely on Berlin police officers to deal with a bomb threat in real life.
