Liam Neeson is making some important decisions related to his action film career. Neeson has starred in several popular action films such as The gray, The traveler, The shooterand of course, the Taken films. However, the actor recently admitted that he plans to retire from action films. Neeson acknowledged that he is now 72 years old and doesn’t want to film an action movie if he can’t do most of his stunts. Therefore, Neeson predicted that he would retire from action films by the end of 2025.
Although Neeson’s name has become synonymous with the action genre in recent years, he didn’t actually start out in action films. It was in 2008 Taken this led Neeson increasingly into the action genre. Taken grossed US$226 million at the global box office on a budget of just US$25 millionso it only made sense for Neeson to star in more action films. However, not all of Liam Neeson’s action films have been as successful as the original Taken.
Most of Liam Neeson’s Top Rated Movies Aren’t Action Movies
Liam Neeson has received immense praise for several dramatic roles
While several of Liam Neeson’s action films have grossed a respectable amount at the box office, not all of them have been well-received by critics. The second and third Taken films received significantly worse reviews compared to the firstand many of his other independent action films fared no better. When looking at Neeson’s filmography, we will see that the highest-rated films of his career are not action films.
Steven Spielberg Schindler’s List is the highest-rated film of Neeson’s career. The film is a drama set during the Holocaust and Neeson’s character Oskar Schindler is often listed as one of the best movie characters of all time. Other notable films from Neeson’s career are Common Love, Kinseyand Silence. All of the films mentioned above have significantly better scores on Rotten Tomatoes, and none of them are action films.
Liam Neeson’s era of action stars may have overstayed its welcome
Liam Neeson never repeated the success of the first film filmed
While Taken It was an exciting and surprising turn of events for the actor after a career of mostly dramatic performancesNeeson may have stayed in the action genre for too long. While the first Taken the film had an intriguing plot that allowed audiences to root for Neeson’s character, few resonated with the second and third Taken films in the same way. As the series progressed, the events of the films became increasingly unrealistic, which resulted in the audience no longer relating to the characters.
In addition to Taken franchise, two of Neeson’s most recent action films, Memory and Black lighthave Rotten Tomatoes scores of 29% and 12%, respectively. Therefore, it is clear that most of Neeson’s action films are not being well received by audiences. Although the star still finds rare success in action films, like 2023 In the land of saints and sinnerswhich has an impressive 83% on Rotten Tomatoes, it’s probably still a good idea for Liam Neeson retire from action movies sooner or later.