It’s been 15 years since Liam Neeson revitalized his career with the surprise hit Taken. And ever since, Neeson has been taking advantage of his new gruff action persona, lending his acting gravitas to action movies where he would dabble in gunplay and occasional fisticuffs. That’s not to say the Irish actor has been slumming entirely. The Academy Award-nominated actor has still been able to fit in films like Martin Scorsese’s Silence and Steve McQueen’s Widows to keep scratching his thespian itch. Now, Neeson is back in the driver’s seat in the trailer for his new action thriller, Retribution.
The official synopsis from Lionsgate reads,
Liam Neeson stars in Retribution, an immersive ticking-clock thriller that straps audiences in for a high-octane ride of redemption and revenge. When a mysterious caller puts a bomb under his car seat, Matt Turner (Neeson) begins a high-speed chase across the city to complete a specific series of tasks. With his kids trapped in the back seat and a bomb that will explode if they get out of the car, a normal commute becomes a twisted game of life or death as Matt follows the stranger’s increasingly dangerous instructions in a race against time to save his family.
Retribution is an American remake of the 2015 Spanish film El Desconocido. The action thriller stars Neeson along with Matthew Modine, Noma Dumezweni, Jack Champion, Lilly Aspell and Embeth Davidtz. The director of the film is Hungarian native Nimród Antal, whose credits include Vacancy, Armored and, most notably, the Robert Rodriguez-produced Predator sequel, Predators. Christopher Salmanpour, who has written for the television series FBI: Most Wanted, penned the screenplay. Andrew Rona, Alex Heineman, Jaume Collet-Serra and Juan Sola are credited as producers. Collet-Serra has collaborated with Neeson for their prior action thrillers, Unknown, Run All Night, and The Commuter.
The film is distributed by Lionsgate, which is coming off of the year’s action mega-hit John Wick: Chapter 4. They also have released such action franchises as the Expendables series, which will also be getting another sequel this year with Expendables 4 or Expend4bles.
Retribution drives into theaters on August 25.