Liam Neeson as a Bourne-again Schwarzenegger?! ...Well okay then

Rating: 8/10 (4 August 2008)

Just a little bit more over-the-top than Damon's Jason Bourne, Neeson here has gone the full-Schwarzenegger from Commando (1985).
Once you're over that shock (couldn't Neeson have shot more people in Love Actually? - that movie could really have been something!) this is a surprisingly good vigilante genre flick in the best cruel and blood-thirsty sense.
Can't say I'm normally a fan of former cinematographers-turned-directors (look at your Jan De Bonts, Dean Semlers, even Barry Sonnenfeld is pretty hit & miss) but thanks go to Pierre Morel, who has been patient enough to nurture the character moments between all the wham-bam that makes you want to buy into the whole hackneyed kidnap/track-down and one-man-revenge-juggernaut premise all over again. The actors carry it off too - this is Neeson's movie of course, but even the teenage daughter is played quite genuinely (ie: genuinely irritating... these kids today, I don't know...) and you can feel Luc Besson's touch in the jarring mix of the sweetly sad/sensitive/sentimental protagonist with an explosively violent side to his personality. What's up with Luc Besson - did he only direct as a stepping-stone to screen writing? He can really smash a film like this home... but I digress.
I enjoyed this film lots, it was a free preview screening but looking back it would be well worth paying for.
Caution: If you're French, Albanian or Arabian... prepare to be offended!