Retribution
Lionsgate | Release Date: August 25, 2023 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
43
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 26 Critic Reviews
Positive:
3
Mixed:
18
Negative:
5
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleAug 23, 2023
Neeson’s last few action flicks may have been just for fans, but Retribution is for everybody. Read full review
70
New York Magazine (Vulture)Bilge EbiriAug 25, 2023
This is a paycheck movie, to be sure, the kind of direct-to-video title that gets a theatrical release because the lead actor still has star power. But he and his director have earned that paycheck. I’m excited to see what Liam Neeson will be stuck inside next. Read full review
67
The A.V. ClubLuke Y. ThompsonAug 24, 2023
Unlike Forrest Gump’s box of chocolates, what you’re going to get from this box of travel sweets is usually something you can expect. But that doesn’t mean it can’t be effectively tasty in the moment. Read full review
60
Los Angeles TimesNoel MurrayAug 28, 2023
While Retribution is far from Neeson’s best, it still mostly works, so long as you tune out the dialogue and focus on the hero’s twitchy face, waiting to see which will blow to smithereens first: his car or his patience. Read full review
60
VarietyOwen GleibermanAug 23, 2023
The film’s 90 minutes whiz by. Read full review
55
CNNBrian LowryAug 25, 2023
Set in Berlin, the Speed-like conceit possesses a crisp and efficient stupidity before, predictably, running out of gas. Read full review
50
Film ThreatAlan NgAug 29, 2023
I’d recommend Retribution if the weather is too hot and you want to spend a few hours in air conditioning. Otherwise, it’s a pass. Read full review
50
Screen RantFerdosa AbdiAug 25, 2023
Retribution is comically familiar, yet that familiarity breeds a sense of comfort for the average movie watcher who wants something not too complicated or tedious. Read full review
50
Movie NationRoger MooreAug 25, 2023
Neeson gives us a bit more to chew on here than his standard hunt-for-his-daughter/avenge-his-son fare, an actor who lets us see the panic, see the wheels frantically turning and who never shies away from letting us see him sweat. Read full review
50
IGNA.A. DowdAug 23, 2023
For a movie about a guy trying to save himself and his kids from a car that might blow up at any moment, it's curiously low on thrills and complications. Read full review
50
ObserverRex ReedAug 23, 2023
The point finally arrives when you realize an initially interesting plot ceases to make much sense, the screenplay by Christopher Salmanpour is nothing more than a series of elaborate red herrings, and director Nimród Antal has nothing to do but increase the noise level and blow up as much of downtown Berlin as legally possible. Read full review
50
Austin ChronicleJosh KupeckiAug 23, 2023
In the hands of director Nimród Antal, a filmmaker who’s made good movies (2003’s Kontroll) and bad movies (2010’s Predators), who has worked on engaging TV shows (Apple TV+’s Servant) and brain-dead TV shows (Netflix’s Stranger Things), Retribution falls pretty much right down the middle. Read full review
50
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperAug 23, 2023
We’re halfway through the movie when the villain’s identity becomes painfully obvious. Spoiler alert: We’re not wrong. The dialogue is often so painful, it’s almost entertaining on some level. Read full review
50
Washington PostMichael O'SullivanAug 23, 2023
Director Nimród Antal (“Predators”) does a serviceable job of keeping everything interesting and suspenseful, if not exactly fresh. Read full review
50
Arizona RepublicAmanda LubertoAug 23, 2023
The action-thriller is formulaic and obvious. In other words, it's just another Neeson movie, nothing more, nothing less. Read full review
50
Slant MagazineRoss McIndoeAug 23, 2023
Without a compelling reason for us to care about the people inside the car, a reasonably diverting journey never accelerates into an outright thrill-ride. Read full review
50
SlashfilmChris EvangelistaAug 23, 2023
Once upon a time, a movie of this ilk could be unremarkable but fun; sturdy and dependable; solid, even. Not this time, though.  Read full review
40
EmpireJames DyerOct 27, 2023
An inoffensive but inessential addition to Neeson’s latter-years thriller canon. Less the bus that couldn’t slow down than the car that couldn’t get started. Read full review
40
The GuardianPeter BradshawOct 26, 2023
Some guilty pleasure thrills are what’s on offer but they are frankly annulled by Liam Neeson’s autopilot dullness, a driverless car of a performance from an actor we know to be capable of much more. Read full review
40
The Hollywood ReporterFrank ScheckAug 23, 2023
Director Nimrod Antal (Predators) stages the mostly vehicular mayhem with as much variety and visual excitement as possible, especially in a crucial scene in which Matt is cornered by the police in a tunnel. But there’s only so much he can do with the hackneyed premise. Read full review
40
The New York TimesAmy NicholsonAug 23, 2023
It’s clear why these films need Neeson: He commits to every line like his life actually does depend on it. But gravitas alone can’t salvage the frustrating plot contrivances and ridiculous dialogue that make the characters sound dumber and dumber the more they explain their motivations. Read full review
38
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliAug 28, 2023
Retribution seems especially disappointing, however, because of its untapped potential to be cheesily entertaining. The finished product is so bad that I can’t even recommend it for viewing on a streaming service – somewhere it should land very quickly. Read full review
30
Rolling StoneDavid FearAug 25, 2023
Retribution is not the worst of his thrillers/action movies — that honor belongs to either last year’s god-awful Blacklight or this freezer-burned turkey — but it does suggest that Neeson may want to consider retiring from the everyman action-hero beat for good. What once felt like a niche being expertly filled now resembles a formula beaten into submission, like so many nameless thugs threatening the safety of a tough guy’s offspring. Read full review
25
Paste MagazineBrianna ZiglerAug 25, 2023
It’s as if Neeson is attempting to maintain the same schtick from Taken, with the children remaining the same age despite his own age ever trudging onward (there’s a twisted Dazed & Confused joke someone could make here). It is a workaround refutation of his mortality without the use of de-aging CGI. Read full review
25
RogerEbert.comPeter SobczynskiAug 25, 2023
Here is a film so devoid of thrills, excitement, or purpose that it seems to have been custom-made to play in empty multiplexes during the traditionally dead last weeks of summer. Read full review
20
The AtlanticDavid SimsAug 25, 2023
Neeson himself has done admirable work making mid-budget throwbacks with a little extra grit and gravitas. But it might be time for him to retire that very particular set of skills. Read full review
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