Some 16 years ago, enraptured moviegoers watched as ex-CIA Bryan Mills gave a spare but chilling warning over the phone to the sex traffickers that just abducted his teenage daughter:
“…[W]hat I do have are a very particular set of skills, skills I have acquired over a very long career. Skills that make me a nightmare for people like you.”
It would be a threat that he made good on over the remaining running time of Taken (2008), a massive hit that would spawn two sequels and start its leading man, Liam Neeson, carving a perhaps improbable but certainly undeniable late-career niche as an action star.
It’s not like it’s been nothing but gunplay for the imposing Irish amateur boxer turned stage thespian since Taken opened; there’ve been acclaimed dramatic turns from Silence (2016) to A Monster Calls (2016) to Mark Felt: The Man Who Brought Down the White House (2017) to Ordinary Love (1019). Next year will see him exercise his comedy chops, starring as Frank Drebin, Jr. in a reboot/remake of The Naked Gun.
At 72, Neeson might well be ready to move on from the rigors of making thrillers, but people still want to see him in them—and the anticipation is high for the about-to-open Absolution (2024), where he reunited with his director on Cold Pursuit (2019), the Norwegian Hans Petter Moland. Here, Neeson plays an aging thug just diagnosed with CTE, who looks to rebuild bridges with his family and pull himself out of criminal life, without much chance of success at either.
At this point, we’d like to ask you what’s your favorite action flick from Liam Neeson’s post-Taken resume? Vote below! Let us know in the comments section if we’ve made an omission!