Liam Neeson’s action movies became incredibly popular after Taken, but Retribution continues his Rotten Tomatoes downfall in the genre.

SUMMARY

 Liam Neeson’s new action movie Retribution is part of his ongoing streak of poorly reviewed films, with a 26% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
 Since 2014, Neeson has only had one action movie, Cold Pursuit, receive positive reviews, highlighting the challenge of breaking the Rotten Tomatoes trend.
 Despite the negative reviews, Neeson’s action movies continue to be made because they have a solid track record at the box office and an audience willing to see them.

Liam Neeson’s new action movie Retribution continues the actor’s horrible review trend on Rotten Tomatoes. The 2023 Liam Neeson action movie follows his character after he learns a stranger put a bomb under his car seat. It leads to a twisted plot for survival as Neeson’s character and his two children are trapped in the car. The action thriller movie concept is nothing new for Liam Neeson, as the actor has almost fully transitioned his career to starring in these types of movies. Despite the frequency that they have been made, Retribution‘s Rotten Tomatoes score continues a bad trend for Neeson.

The action movie focus of Liam Neeson’s career really came into effect 15 years ago with Taken, as the movie was a surprise hit and launched a franchise. He has since attempted to replicate this success by starring in multiple action movies typically involving his character saving his family or preventing some type of attack. Retribution is another attempt to find success in the action movie genre, but it has received overwhelmingly negative reviews so far. As a result, Liam Neeson’s status as an action movie star continues to be called into question, and makes some shocking Rotten Tomatoes stats even worse.

Retribution Is Liam Neeson’s 6th Consecutive Rotten Action Movie

The signs that Retribution could be another bad Liam Neeson action movie were on the wall, but there was still some hope that the simplified thriller could surprise. Now that the movie is about to debut in theaters, the first reviews have started to surface on Rotten Tomatoes. Retribution‘s rating on the review aggregator site makes it another rotten movie in Liam Neeson’s filmography. The movie only has a 26% rating on Rotten Tomatoes as of the time of this writing. That would make Retribution among the worst-reviewed movies of the year, but the score is mostly familiar for Liam Neeson at this point.

The reality is that Liam Neeson’s action movies are now on a six-movie rotten streak. This current cold streak began in 2020 with Honest Thief (41%) and continued in 2021 with The Marksman (38%) and The Ice Road (43%). 2022 extended the streak further with Blacklight (11%) and Memory (29%). This does not even take into account some other Rotten scores that Liam Neeson movies have received during the same time period that were not of the action movie genre. The low Rotten Tomatoes score for Retribution means his streak now stands at six consecutive poorly reviewed action movies.

Liam Neeson Only Has 1 Fresh Action Movie Since 2014 (& 4 Overall)

Liam Neeson’s poor track record on Rotten Tomatoes with action movies can be traced back to Taken, but it was really with the franchise’s conclusion in 2014 with Taken 3 that the troubles became more widespread. In the years since Taken 3 was released, Liam Neeson only has one action movie that got positive reviews on Rotten Tomatoes. 2019’s Cold Pursuit is the only example of Liam Neeson’s action movies being met favorably by critics during that time span, as it received a 68% rating.

Cold Pursuit‘s fresh score is rare for Liam Neeson, making Retribution‘s odds of breaking the Rotten Tomatoes trend rather low. He only has three other action movies since 2008 where he was the lead that got fresh ratings: Non-Stop, A Walk Among the Tombstones, and The Grey. While Liam Neeson has found success in other genres and playing supporting roles during the same time frame, Retribution becomes another one of his action movies that supports the wider Rotten Tomatoes trend instead of helping to break it.

Why Liam Neeson Action Movies Keep Being Made When So Many Get Bad Reviews

The track record that Liam Neeson’s action movies have on Rotten Tomatoes fairly raises questions about why studios continue to make them. They might not be well-received by critics or even audiences on occasion, but the actor does have a solid enough track record at the box office that they are worthy gambles. The Taken trilogy collectively made over $930 million at the box office. Unknown, Non-Stop, and The Commuter all made over $100M worldwide, making them certifiable hits. Cold Pursuit, Run All Night, A Walk Among the Tombstones, and The Grey each made over $50M too.

Liam Neeson’s star power and ability to draw in audiences for relatively cheap action movies make these projects essentially critic and Rotten Tomatoes proof. That is not to say that Retribution and other such movies would not be even more successful if they had received better reviews, but audiences have shown that they are still willing to see Liam Neeson fight bad guys in theaters regardless of a Rotten score. Until that changes and viewers demand higher quality, Liam Neeson’s action movies will remain a staple of Hollywood’s release slate every year.