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.
Leave a Reply