The Charles Bronson phase of Liam Neeson‘s career continues. The actor will star in Retribution, a thriller co-production from Studiocanal, Ombra Films, and The Picture Company. It is a remake of the 2015 Spanish film El Desconocido. and will be produced by Alex Heineman and Andrew Rona. Chris Salmanpour and Andrew Baldwin have penned the script, reports.
The plot of Retribution will revolve around a Wall Street executive (Neeson) who finds himself stuck in a harrowing situation: a bomb has been placed in his car. If he wants to keep it from exploding and killing himself, his family (who are with him), and any innocent bystanders, he must complete a series of tasks given to him by an unknown antagonist. Production is expected to begin sometime this fall.
Back in 2015, Neeson stated that he would be walking away from action movies, likely leaving Taken 3 and Run All Night as his final two. After a string of projects outside the genre (Operation Chromite, A Monster Calls, Silence) and a load of voicework roles, however, he has returned. Neeson does have a few upcoming projects that operate outside the action/thriller realm (Felt, The Trainer), but for now that majority of him have him operating in adrenaline mode.
The only key difference between projects like the already-completed The Commuter, the currently-filming Hard Powder, and the upcoming Retribution is that these place Neeson into more of an “everyman” scenario, instead of presenting him as a consummate badass. Naturally there are still a few that toss him into the latter category, with the crime thriller Widows and the noir thriller Marlowe lined up on his “to do” list. The point is that if you like your Neeson bucking the odds and kicking ass, you have a lot to look forward to over the next few years.
