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If this feature wasn't about action movies and I have to choose one Liam Neeson movie to recommend, it would be A Million Ways To Die in The West. Just kidding! It is, hands down, Schindler's List, which is easily the best film this Irish actor has been a part of. The Steven Spielberg film has him play Oskar Schindler, a real-life German industrialist who helped save 1200 Jews from the Nazis during World War II. Neeson received an Oscar nominations for his terrific performance - his breaking down scene in the finale is just moving - his sole Academy Award nomination to date. Liam Neeson Reveals He Is Not a Fan of the Superhero Genre, Says ‘Have No Desire to Go into the Gym for Three Hours Every Day’.
Neeson is a wonderful actor who doesn't exactly qualify for an action star in the '90s, a bracket that dominated by the likes of Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone, Bruce Willis, Wesley Snipes, etc. Even though he had done his share of action films then. In 2008, Neeson revolutionised both his career and the way people see aged stars as he turned a legit action hero with Taken. The success of the film created a sub-genre for itself - Neeson action movies. While the genre seemed to have lost some of the heat now, it had some entertaining movies.
On Liam Neeson's 68th birthday, we recommend you watch these seven entertaining action-thriller movies starring the actor.
Darkman
Did you know before breaking girl traffickers' bones in Taken, Liam Neeson was also a superhero? Not in a Marvel or a DC movie (though we would get to latter in a bit), Neeson played an unusual superhero in this underrated actioner directed by Sam Raimi (who later went on to direct Spider-Man trilogy). He plays a scientist who is left disfigured by a mobster and his experimentations with himself gains himself super-powers but also becomes more psychotic in the process.
Batman Begins
In the first film in Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight trilogy, Liam Neeson plays the mercenary who trains Bruce Wayne as part of the Ra's al Ghul's League of Shadows. Later, he reveals himself to be the real Ra's al Ghul coming to Gotham city to destroy it by vapourising its water supply. Liam Neeson also appeared in The Dark Knight Rises as Bruce Wayne's hallucination of Ra's al Ghul.
Taken
The movie that cemented Neeson as the middle-aged action star. Neeson plays a former CIA operative who springs into action when his daughter and her friend are kidnapped by the girl trafficking ring during a vacation. What works for the film is that it avoids big spectacles and relies on its protagonist's brains and 'skills'. Some of his dialogues are still popular as memes, like 'I do have are a very particular set of skills; skills I have acquired over a very long career.' The sequels suck, though.
The A-Team
The A-Team is a film based on a television series by the same name and has Bradley Cooper, Quinton Jackson, Sharlto Copley, along with Neeson playing the titular group. Neeson is the leader of this Special Forces team who gets arrested for a crime they didn't commit and makes their escape to catch those who trapped them in the first place.
Non-Stop
In this thriller set aboard a plane, Neeson plays Air Federal Marshal who realises that there is a killer on board the flight, thanks to a series of anonymous texts. That's not all - he has to find who it is, or one passenger will be killed every 20 minutes. The suspense is good, and Non-Stop maintains the thrill factor to the last scene. Also stars Julianne Moore.
The Commuter
From plane to train. This time, Liam Neeson, who plays a man just fired from his job, has to discover a murder conspiracy on the train he usually commutes from work. Like with Non-Stop, the mixture of thrill and suspense works in the favour of the movie, and Neeson is solid as the everyman actioner.
Cold Pursuit
The Liam Neeson action genre had began to lose its charm when Cold Pursuit came to theatres. It was also affected by controversy surrounding the actor, who confessed that he once thought of a killing a black man because a friend had been attacked by one. He apologised for his old attitude, but the controversy affected the film. Which is a pity, since Cold Pursuit is quite an enthralling black comic thriller. While Neeson is his usual self, it is the execution and the entertaining villains that make it different from the rest of his films.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 07, 2020 09:41 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).
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