Liam Neeson knocks the rust off in race-against-time scenario

Liam Neeson redeems himself admirably with his latest 70-year-old-bloke-about-to-snap opus, writes Leigh Paatsch.

RETRIBUTION (M)

Director: Nimrod Antal (Machete)

Starring: Liam Neeson, Embeth Davidtz, Matthew Modine, Jack Champion

Rating: *** 

Some will argue that for the past 15 years – since the release of Taken, to be exact – Liam Neeson has been all about beating up his brand for fun (ours) and profit (his).

Detractors of the once-respected Irish thesp are quite within their rights to put a pen through anything he does these days.

For chances are whatever Neeson releases next – and there’s usually two or three titles a year to consider – it’s going to be a heaving heap of hooey.

Personally, I’ve never quite believed that Liam Neeson has truly trashed his “particular set of skills” as an actor. He just allows them to rust over for varying periods of time.

Then a truly effective and highly entertaining Liam Neeson movie will come along, the rust will be scraped away, and all will be forgiven.

So let the record show that, once again, Neeson has redeemed himself admirably with his latest 70-year-old-bloke-about-to-snap opus, Retribution.

Across a niftily nerve-shredding 90 minutes, Retribution tears a few pages out of the same textbook that made Keanu Reeves’ Speed such a big hit back in the day.

While this new movie won’t ever be mentioned in the same breath as Speed, it does run its race-against-time scenario with enjoyable efficiency, lunacy and excitement.

The set-up is spectacularly basic. Neeson plays Matt, a high-flying financier handed the lowly task of driving his two kids to school.

What should be an easy drop-off at a posh private school in Berlin takes a hard turn towards many destinations unknown when Matt answers a blind call on his mobile.

The voice on the line issues a curt set of instructions. There is an active bomb welded to the undercarriage of Matt’s vehicle. The seats inside have sensors wired direct to the device. If any passenger elects to leave the car, it’s boom-boom time.

And just to prove he ain’t messing about, the voice directs Matt to a nearby street where he casually explodes a late-model BMW and its driver on the spot.

Matt’s only way out of this four-wheeled, traffic-jammed hell is to unlock a zillion-dollar hedge fund to which only he has the key. Oh, and Matt’s wife has just called (she wants a divorce), and those spoilt brats in the back seats aren’t inclined to do everything he says.

Neeson’s one job here is grip the wheel, grimace intensely and bellow as belligerently as he can into his Bluetooth headset without upsetting his children. All of this, he does most convincingly.

As for the movie itself, it ramps everything up and then wraps everything up in a satisfactorily stressful fashion.

Just like Matt and his offspring, you won’t be wanting to leave your seat any time soon.

Retribution is now showing in general release

RUBY GILLMAN, TEENAGE KRAKEN (PG)

General release

Rating: * 1/2

Ruby Gillman (Lana Condor) and Connor (Jaboukie Young-White) in Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken.

Ruby Gillman (Lana Condor) and Connor (Jaboukie Young-White) in Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken.

Most kids’ movies deemed worthy of a cinema release these days are average at best. Then there is that select few which are both forgettable and unfathomable at the same time. Such as Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken, the less-than-appealing tale of a perky high school mathlete who has the unfortunate tendency to turn into a jumbo octopus if sufficiently doused with saltwater.

With a major crisis looming – this year’s school prom is being conducted on a boat – Ruby suddenly finds her multi-tentacled self on the ocean floor, about to come into close contact with her species’ sworn enemy, the mermaid.

Visually, the movie becomes more of an eyesore as it slithers along, while the story mashes up some confusing marine mythology with contemporary plotting points seen to better effect in Pixar’s recent release Turning Red.

Leave this one alone – your kids deserve better.

BLUE BEETLE (M)

General release

Rating: ***

Ruby Gillman (Lana Condor) and Connor (Jaboukie Young-White) in Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken.

Xolo Mariduena in the superhero movie Blue Beetle.

This pleasantly endearing action-adventure affair hails from the DC Comics stable, which hasn’t been having a great time of it at the box office lately (especially after The Flash hit the pan mid-year).

While this genial origin story for a longtime lesser light in the DC galaxy of superheroes won’t be selling tickets in huge numbers, it does a fine job keeping excitement to the fore and its audience engaged.

The production’s unknown leading man, Xolo Mariduena, has a bright future based on the talent and charisma shown here. He plays Jaime, a humble Latino dude who stumbles upon an ancient doo-dad destined to transform him into a super-powered flying bug.

What follows is largely a cheap and cheerful variation upon the Spider-Man foundation tale, with Jaime learning to harness his powers for the greater good while finding the will to face and fight a major evil.

While the special effects are a little clunky here, the non-action scenes featuring Jaime’s funky family circle (including a grandma who knows how to operate a flamethrower) are invariably warm, inviting and fun. Co-stars George Lopez, Bruna Marquezine.

Originally published as Liam Neeson knocks the rust off in race-against-time scenario