Retribution (#462)


I have no credible excuse for giving Liam Neeson another chance.  Probably because I fdlt like going to a movie and it was a choice between him and Jawan, an Indian film I could have watched in Hindi or Telugu.  I should have opted for Jawan.  RETRIBUTION was a dismal excuse for a thriller — car chase, et al.  Once again Liam is involved with saving family members.  He is depicted as head of a dysfunctional family whose neglect has his wife on the verge of divorce and his son and daughter disliking him.  Reluctantly driving them to school in Berlin where this all takes place, he gets a call from a computer distorted man who advises that, unless he follows instructions, the bomb located under the driver’s seat will be detonated.  And if they try to get out of the car, it will explode.  Following instructions, he encounters along the way two cars that are bombed — one occupied by an employee of his investment firm and his girl friend, the otherby his best friend and longtime partner.  The whole thing hinges on his transferring the firm's $200 million stashed in Dubai to the bomber.  In the miserable and ridiculous 1 and 1/2 hour film, we are subjected to close ups of Liam’s anguished face.  It has an easily anticipated surprise and an absurd ending.  All told, a very bad movie.  25% of critics and 66% of audiences gave it a thumbs up. 

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