User Reviews

Some films are so bad they're good. Tommy Wiseau's 'The Room', or Claudio Fragasso's 'Troll 2,' are hilarious because of their ineptness, and are therefore really entertaining. Others are less enjoyable, but have redeeming qualities, such as the striking visuals in Alex Proyas' overblown 'Gods of Egypt,' for instance. Then, there are films that are just awful, with nothing to offer the viewing audience beyond boredom and disappointment.

Nimród Antal's 'Retribution' is one of the latter. An unoriginal slog, the film follows Matt Turner, a financier and family man. One day, while driving his children to school, he notices a strange phone ringing beside him, and answers it. The caller turns out to be an anonymous fiend, who tells Turner he has placed a bomb under his seat that is triggered by pressure plates and a radio frequency. The caller demands that Turner follow his instructions to the letter, otherwise the bomb will be detonated; sending Turner and his children on an explosive ride through the streets of Berlin.

It is, essentially, 'Phone Booth' meets 'Speed,' with a dash of Steven Knight's 'Locke,' but is no way as fun as that combination sounds. A dull remake of a much better film, Dani de la Torre's 'El desconocido,' Antal and screenwriter Chris Salmanpour fail to make the venture exciting, thrilling or in any way engaging. Salmanpour's dialogue is so stilted and full of exposition it makes that heard in Robert Lorenz's 'The Marksman' sound like Shakespeare. The narrative is predictable, featuring a twist so obvious it may make your eyes actually roll.

Furthermore, the characters involved are all stereotypes with little to no personality. Turner is a wet-blanket, who is difficult to root for, while his children are breathing cliches. Secondary characters are no better, and everyone involved acts without logic or common sense. How the film was greenlit for production, considering it is so boring as to be qualifiable as a sedative, is astounding. It plays like a cheap TV movie from the 90's or early 00's: forgettable, monotonous and hardly worth the time one has to invest in watching it.

It is an unexceptional, tiresome picture in every regard, featuring passionless cinematography from Flavio Martínez Labiano, which does nothing to aid proceedings. He makes Berlin- a notoriously interesting location- look flat and dreary, while his utilisation of shots and angles is conventional and uninspired. Similarly, composer Harry Gregson-Williams seems to be just going through the motions: his bland score reflects a lack of interest in the subject matter.

Moreover, Steve Mirkovich's editing is mediocre, if not downright poor. Mirkovich has cut some films brilliantly in the past: his work on 'Con Air' created tension and momentum, as it did on 'Big Trouble in Little China' and other projects. Here, though, he fails to generate the fast pace required for a thriller to work. The film plods along at a pace that would irritate a snail, going glumly from scene to scene with little to no energy or drive.

In fact, the only half-decent aspect of the film is star Liam Neeson's performance. Neeson does solid work, but Turner is a role that requires nothing from him, and he appears as bored as his audience at times. In the last few years, he has been making dodgy career choices, seemingly lured by big paycheques and nothing more. Although one can't fault him for wanting to make a bundle for relatively easy work; this might mark the nadir of his career thus far, and might actually hurt his bankability.

He should have avoided it like the plague, as should prospective viewers. Alongside Neeson, Jack Champion and Lilly Aspell, starring as his children, do forgettable work, while Noma Dumezweni does the bare minimum as a Europol agent on Turner's tail. Also, slumming it in a thankfully small role, is Matthew Modine, who is over the top when he isn't wooden, and seems embarrassed to be associated with the project at all.

At the end of the day, Nimród Antal's 'Retribution' is a boring waste of time. Based on an exciting film from Dani de la Torre, something was lost in translation when screenwriter Chris Salmanpour penned his adaptation, as there are no thrills, tension or entertainment value whatsoever in the finished product. Although Liam Neeson does solid work, this may be one of the most mundane, unexciting films he's appeared in- and in the last few years, he's been in a lot. Featuring nonstop nonsense and nothing more; this film is so forgettable, you might actually forget it as you're watching it.

Of course there was no doubt about me having to sit down and watch this 2023 action crime thriller as it had Liam Neeson on the cast list. Sure, I had never even heard about the movie prior to watching it, not that it really mattered, as it was a Liam Neeson movie.

The storyline in "Retribution", as written by Alberto Marini and Christopher Salmanpour, sort of was very similar to the 1994 movie "Speed", except that it was lacking the high speed and adrenaline. It was watchable, for sure, but it was not a top notch movie for Liam Neeson. The storyline was a bit too much of a copy and paste of "Speed", except it was in a SUV and had a slightly different plot.

The acting performances in the movie were good, and while Liam Neeson didn't have a particular set of skills in "Retribution", then he still carried the movie well enough to make it a watchable movie. There are a couple of other familiar faces on the cast list, with the likes of Embeth Davidtz, Matthew Modine, and Jack Champion.

I found "Retribution" to be somewhat lacking in thrills and excitement, and the movie's plot and storyline was a tad too linear and predictable for my liking. Plus, the fact that if you've already seen "Speed", then you have essentially also already seen director Nimród Antal's "Retribution".

Watchable for what it was, "Retribution" didn't impress me, nor did it revolutionize the action crime thriller genre. In fact, it didn't bring anything new at all to the genre. And on that account, my rating of director Nimród Antal's "Retribution" lands on a bland five out of ten stars.

Retribution is barely for those of us who fell in love with Neeson when he did the ultimate man meal Taken. Ever snice That trilogy I've been running to the theatres to watch Neeson flicks and this is the Frist time I actually said to myself why (which i now found surprising).

Not to say this was a bad movie, but it really seemed unnecessary. Wild thing, it feels like a similar plot to a better Neeson movie the Commuter. The movies may seem polarizingly deferent but if you seen The Commuter you'll notice the same plot devices creating the same loop holes in both, but the Commuter is worth seeing while i could have skipped Retribution altogether.

I like Liam (Neeson) so I obviously had to see it. If i could only get my lost time back after watching this abysmally bad, senseless idiotic piece of rubbish. The only thing that this film makes you incessantly aware of is the fact that in everyday real life, people just don't listen! So, please just listen to every ignored request made by different party's appearing in the film. The director seems to have made everyone do everything wrong...deliberately!

There is just no logical sensibility about any of this film especially with the numb-nut Interpol female police boss; she is given a load of case solving relevant information but refuses to listen or believe any of it. The film is just totally and stupidly pointless annoying trash.

The film is in English but set in Germany and nobody bothered to include the subtitles for the German speaking lines/parts. This is Liam's fourth bad film in a row so we can only hope his next outing is back to his good self!

If you are into hyper-realism this ain't for you, but if you just want to check your brain at the door and have some fun this is well worth he watch.

Liam Neeson delivers as he always does and the supporting cast, especially young Lilly Aspell as his daughter, do a very god job.

Retribution is a remake of the 2015 Spanish thriller El Desconocido, with Liam Neeson as a financial trader who gets trapped in a car with a bomb and his two kids. The film is some what cliché but like I said you wouldn't watch this for it's realism and there are enough twists, turns and explosions to keep you interested.

Clocking in at 90 minutes in not a major investment in time either.

For the genre I give it a 7/10.

With all the slim pickings and nonsense that's been coming out lately, especially all the failed Hollywood blockbusters, I'm not sure what everyone's expecting. I held off watching this from all the low ratings and reviews, and since I had nothing else left to watch, I though I'd finally give this one a go. The first two acts where actually impressive and with hardly any flaws, and full of constant tension and suspense. But the third act certainly had some plot and technical issues, as well as some logic defying actions and decisions. Casting and performances were excellent throughout, as was the pacing, cinematography and score. Had the third act been better, this would've easily been a solid 8, but as the writers seemed to lose steam and creativity in the third act, it's down to a 7/10 from me.

I don't know where to start.... The dialogues are bad, wooden, and cheesy. The acting is far from enjoyable. The characters are dull and absolutely undeveloped. There is no motivation for the bad guy I can find. The Police and "Europol" are far from realistic, and speaking of Europol: this is not a European FBI, as shown in the movies. And of course the way they show Berlin hurts to see. They drive down one street, the next turn he is 20km away in another part of the town.

I'm just happy I saw this in a sneak preview with cheap tickets, because if it was a regular screening with full price tickets I would have demanded a refund.

Matt Turner, an American businessman living in Berlin, seeks to balance his prosperous financial career with family responsibilities. One morning, while taking his children to school, Matt receives a phone call. A mysterious voice warns him that his car is rigged with explosives and will explode unless he performs a set of tasks. Forced into a high-speed chase through the city streets, Matt must follow the stranger's increasingly dangerous instructions, in a race against time to protect his family and unravel the mystery that unfolds throughout the day.

Excellent plot, several remakes, all maintaining the original, harrowing and exciting context... Adorable... As good as the original 2015 version, and there are still 2 remakes left (2018 and 2021)... With the addition of some good elements mainly the final fate of the protagonist and antagonist, lots of action, explosive and cinematic... Light Plot Twist...

Like a number of these recent Neeson action spectacles, "Retribution" is a remake of a Spanish and a German film.

None of the characters appearing are particularly interesting or likable (the kids, in particular, seem to be a bit annoying at times. And the director (named Nimród Antal) handles the strong action scenes and beats in a well exciting; the big twist in the final scenes is a bit predictable obvious that virtually every audience member will have figured it out long before it's deployed. So, a continuity with most of the movies starring Neeson of the last 10 years but overall interesting for the filming location in Berlin and due to Neeson's good (as usually) performance.

So, Liam Neeson sits on a bomb, and in the backseat of the luxury car sits his two bratty, spoiled kids yapping away. Through the whole movie they are just terrible and we, the audience, has to endure their ungrateful attitude towards their dad. Awful.

And the story... oh the story. You have seen it several times already, starting with the movie "Speed" ages ago. And here it is again. But while "Speed" was interesting and fun to watch, this is just boring. A movie without any logic and fun factor. So why should anyone see this movie? Well, that's a very good question, that I can't find any answer too.

I think I hate this movie primarily due to two reasons: my love for Liam Neeson and the stark disparity between the film's promised premise and its actual execution. It was going for less action and more a gripping, high-stakes thriller but sadly, even in that aspect, it falls short. While I wouldn't go as far as labeling it horrendous, it's not worth a trip to the cinema, despite having done so myself lol. It's reminiscent of the kind of film you might casually watch on daytime TV to pass time in a hotel room. It reminds me of Dstv in Africa, when we were traveling or on holiday and the hotel/motel tv only had like 10 channels all with poor signal... this is the kinda thing you'd find playing on the movie channel.

Blink and you might miss it, but the opening credits show it's based on another film "Retribution El Desconocido," which excited me even though I haven't watched the original, but because the comparison with "The Departed" and "Infernal Affairs" crossed my mind, assuming that if the original movie warranted a remake, it must have been great, suggesting the remake had potential, I thought. Unfortunately, this wasn't the case. I didn't really know anything about the movie other Liam Neeson is in it, plus it was a Regal mystery movie too.

The film is really just a deterrent of raising kids later in life. I always say that your kid's potentially having their rebellious teenage phase at while you're 60 would suck ass. While it's not universally true, Zach, the son in the movie, really resembles kids from my high school days who had similar behavior due to having older parents, which made disciplining hard. That's what stood out to me in the entire movie.

I didn't like that the the most unsubtle hints were being dropped with all the TVs on the news channels at the start. The hints couldn't have been less subtle, yet the characters somehow managed to ignore them completely.

The explosions were cool, probably the only thing I enjoyed about the movie. They reminded me action sequences from movies from the 2010s. However, the movie heavily relied on Liam Neeson, even though he didn't have much to work with, so not even he could save this. If you've watched any of Neeson's other movies, this one might leave you feeling deceived, as it hints at possibly following the familiar pattern of his iconic "I will find you, and I will kill you" action flicks, but takes a different direction instead, despite him delivering similar threats.

Nothing about the movie was convincing. Even during the most tense moments, the emotions failed to translate properly, leaving me disengaged from the plot, it lacked that tense, suspenseful, edge of the seat vibe. The actors' performances lacked conviction, and the unoriginal dialogue in the script only exaggerated the issue. The plot itself wasn't believable, heavily relying on characters making illogical choices. Particularly the police, they could've asked questions, but they were way too easily and quickly convinced he was the villain not the villain. The car chases were whack as well, expecting us to believe that dozens police cars were incapable of stopping a single SUV. The entire execution appeared sloppily put together. The decision to involve his unsupervised wife as he was a suspect seemed questionable too. The police investigator seemed perpetually befuddled and uncertain, displaying some of the weakest negotiation skills and poker face I've seen in a movie. The kid was frustrating, something I hate about a character is when, despite others risking their lives to save them, adamantly refuse the help they're being given. The only potentially convincing twist that could have saved the movie for me would have been if it was revealed that that the lead detective was actually complicit and working for the opposing side.

Anyway, as I said earlier it's not as horrendous as I'm making it out to be but I still think it's less than mediocre and not worth a trip to the cinema.

Definitely has to be the worst movie of the year so far holy crap talk about a generic script and just horrible acting brats in the backseat it was just horrible I guess he really needs milk money or something wow. Liam, you stooped to the lowest of all Lows. Never thought lLiam would stoop this low. Just a horrendous acting job and the voice the voice oh it sounds like the saw voice is it supposed to be scary oh my God. Why does Hollywood make this crap just an outrageous attempt to continue Liam's career but I won't be watching anymore of his movies just a horrible horrible movie I wouldn't even call it a movie avoid it all costs.

The movie itself isn't all that bad - it is catchy, rewards you with some tension and doesn't rely too much in hold-your-breath action sequences, as most of the present day thrillers do.

There are two issues, though.

First, and less troublesome, the plot. Nothing new, something of a mashup of Speed,Crank, and Phone. Booth. Really.

Second, and much worse, is the development towards the end - and the end itself. When the movie reaches its final sequences, there are plenty of moments when Liam Neeson's character could escape the situation, but he doesn't. The police response makes no sense at all. And worse, MUCH worse, is the ending, where essentially they forget all about how gravity works - the idea that it pulls you down, not sideways, and produce a completely unsatisfying end that leaves you with that feeling that you've just thrown 90 min of your life away (the worst thing is: this could be easily avoided, the director just decided to add a minute of tension, while making Newton and Galileo shake in their graves).

Retribution? Why not regurgitation? Inflammation? Stupefaction? Irritation?

God must be on the phone with this guy or how else would he know exactly what is going on at every step in this mess of a movie? And there are bad kid actors in it if a terrible plot that makes little sense isn't enough for you.

And on top of all of that rubbish, it's a remake of another bad film. And it was done before that with another stupid movie, Speed. We are really at a low point in the film industry.

And isn't this guy a little old to be playing the action hero, maybe a lot old?

I can't believe this thing has such a high rating at 5.3 thus far.

I don't understand the hate for this movie. It's a tense, fast-paced thriller with believable characters and situations.

Liam Neeson delivers, as always. The characters of the children are not horrible brats, as are in so many films now. The wife is pretty much only a sketch, but the important characteristics of all the characters are filled in enough, at the beginning of the film, to satisfy any need for back story.

It's an action-filled adventure, that drives quickly to its resolution. Some have commented that the "third part" seemed flat. I do wonder what movie they might have been watching - not this one.

I have a theory. I've noticed with movies made in Europe, lately, that there are a *lot* of bad ratings. I figure it's because some people can't wrap their heads around a European setting and vibe. I also consider that perhaps to some people, all European movies must be like the Bourne series in order to satisfy them. *shrug* I did notice in the credits that there is shared production with some Canadian, Quebecois organizations. To some people, this will automatically deduct another couple of points from their rating.

I try to understand why accomplished, really enjoyable films like this get so much hate. I suspect trolls here, as in so many social media interactions, now.

If a film gets high ratings and the review seems reasonable, give the film a shot and find out for yourself.

Although better than his last few ventures like Memory, Blacklight or The Marksman, Liam Neeson's current outing is not that much better. In the vein of Commuter or Non-Stop, Neeson is once again embroiled into the centre of a mystery that has him pegged as the villain by an unknown assailant threatening his life and other innocents around him. However, the former films had better characters, pacing, action, execution and above all else....an intriguing and well guided story. Retribution just seems lazy in the acting department aside from the daughter who was the most believable and least annoying. Everyone else just seemed to be saying their lines or even phoning them in. The story was just too weak with no twists or any big reveals. The female characters for the most part were so infuriating while the rest were just dumb. There was no outsmarting or witty actions taken by the protagonists, there was no real struggle in the back and forth department to make me think that any of the main characters posed any sort of threat or challenge. The villain himself was not intimidating nor menacing at all and essentially just a voice. That and a lack of action or any real suspense left this feeling like a mediocre attempt at a thriller that didn't feel believable. The only saving grace for this movie was that it was compacted into 90 minutes so everything happens quite quickly and the ball just kept rolling after that with no real down time. The explosions were also very well done, realistic and well captured. All in all I didn't feel that invested aside from just wanting to see how it unfolded which is something but not much else.