Liam Neeson’s new film Blacklight gave Travis Johnson an excuse to revisit the cranky star’s greatest action films.
It is a truth universally accepted that Liam Neeson started doing action movies late in his career, with his most notable foray into the genre being 2008’s Taken. That’s not exactly the case, though—plenty of Neeson’s earlier roles were at least, shall we say, action adjacent, like K-19: The Widowmaker (2002) and Batman Begins (2005). And he’s cropped up in a fair few straight actioners as well.
Neeson played second fiddle to Patrick Swayze in the hillbilly shoot ‘em up Next of Kin (1989) and even had an early, uncredited role as a soldier in the Chuck Norris/Lee Marvin VHS mainstay The Delta Force (1985). Certainly, the road from there to an Oscar nomination for Schindler’s List is a long and steep one. But sometimes you don’t want a feted but depressing true account of the Holocaust; sometimes you want to see Northern Ireland’s beefiest action export demolish bad guys.
In which case, drawing from Neeson’s long and storied career, these are your best action options.
Darkman (1990)
The best superhero film of Neeson’s career (and director Sam Raimi’s) finds the big man as Doctor Peyton Westlake, whose research into artificial skin is put on the back burner when he’s horribly mutilated and left for dead by a cadre of mobsters. Now possessed of superhuman strength, fairly justifiable but uncontrollable rage, and the ability to perfectly disguise his ruined face so he can pretend to be anybody, he takes his revenge as Darkman—a kind of gonzo riff on The Shadow. This is an supremely OTT urban avenger tale.
Taken (2008)
Directed by Pierre Morel (District 13) and produced by Luc Besson, Taken sees Neeson as former CIA hard nut Bryan Mills, who unleashes “a particular set of skills” on an Albanian sex trafficking ring when they are unwise enough to kidnap his daughter (Maggie Grace). What follows is a finely tuned procedural actioner as Neeson kills his way up the ladder, dispatching hordes of villains with guile, stealth and the occasional act of sheer brutal force.
The A-Team (2010)
The old ‘80s TV staple leaps to be big screen under the command of Neeson’s John “Hannibal” Smith, who leads a team of former elite soldiers (Bradley Cooper, Sharlto Copley, and Quinton Jackson) who have been framed for a crime they didn’t commit. These men promptly escaped from a maximum-security stockade to the Los Angeles underground, where they survive as soldiers of fortune. Brisk, fun and self-aware, this could have been a good franchise; as it is, the only one we got is great. All else aside, the parachuting tank sequence is gold.
The Grey (2011)
Under the direction of Joe Carnahan (Narc), Neeson stars in this rather philosophical actioner, which sees him as a suicidal hunter who shoots wolves for an Alaskan oil company. Surviving a plane crash with a mixed bag of roughnecks, he is forced to use his expertise to fend off an army of the furry fiends, wrestling with questions of fate, faith and mortality along the way. It’s a muscular, stripped back survival actioner that improves with every viewing.
The Commuter (2018)
The best of Neeson’s four collaborations with director Jaume Collet-Sera, this high concept action thriller sees our man as a former cop turned insurance agent who is blackmailed into figuring out which of the passengers on his long train commute home is a federal witness. If he fingers the squealer, he gets $100k; if he tries to send things awry, his family are in the crosshairs. A fantastically taut story almost completely confined to a single location, this is a fine use of Neeson’s “harried everyman” persona.
