RETRIBUTION (2023)

RETRIBUTION (2023)

Tagline: All Roads Lead to The Truth.

(Crime, Drama, Wow… Liam doesn’t Have to Punch Anyone) [R]

In this one, a bank executive named Matt Turner is pretty much allowing his wife and kids to slip away from him by focusing so much on work and just going through the motions at home. One day his wife asks him to drive his daughter Emily and his son Zack to school. This is the worst day ever for that to happen because he gets a call on his car phone telling him the car is rigged to explode killing them all if he doesn’t follow very specific directions. 

First off, I guess this movie has been done before with a very similar plot line, but I fortunately haven’t seen those movies so my opinion isn’t jaded by history on this one. I think I have said this before, but I have a hard time skipping any movie that looks halfway decent with Liam Neeson (THE MARKSMAN) in it. The dude is an incredible actor with tons of range playing Matt, and he shows that off more in this film than most of the recent things I have seen him in. His performance in this is incredible. The film is also bolstered by acting veteran Matthew Modine (OPPENHEIMER). Modine’s performance is great when he is on screen, but he doesn’t have a lot of scenes. 

This is a slow build film and it takes until the final act to finally figure out what the heck is happening. I think this confused a lot of the audience. I can say that no one in the theater was clapping after this thing ended and I think there are a few reasons for that. The first reason is that it does unfortunately feel like these types of films are a dime a dozen. This one is better than a lot of films in its range, but that is an issue. The second reason is that as much as we are rooting for Matt’s kids. Matt himself doesn’t give us much to root for. There is nothing identifiable about his profession that makes you gravitate towards his character. Here is a good example. If you have a construction worker that is just trying to do his job or live his life like Nada from THEY LIVE or Emmet from THE LEGO MOVIE, those guys are easy to root for. However, when you give us a freakin Lawyer, a bank executive, a politician, a dubious land developer, those types of dudes are hard to root for. If you want us to you better give us someone like President Whitmore from INDEPENDENCE DAY or Mitch from THE FIRM. This movie doesn’t really do that. Most of the film slowly points out the character flaws in Matt and at some point, it’s kind of like, “Well his kids are kind of okay” but meh.” I think because this movie is high tension with lots of drama you really needed to be rooting for the main protagonist. 

Acting wise Liam and Matthew weren’t the only ones doing a good job. I thought Lilly Aspell (WONDER WOMAN 1984) was really good in this as Emily. Her performance wasn’t annoying or grating in any way. I cannot say the same for Jack Champion (AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER). He plays Zack in this and maybe the acting was good, but I could not wait for this kid to not be on screen. By the way, he is good in other things. Noma Dumezweni (THE LITTLE MERMAID) plays a no-nonsense Europol agent in this named Angela Brickmann. She does a great job with what she is asked to do which is play a stoic character where you can see there is a bit of compassion in there. Embeth Davidtz (NOT OKAY) is fine as Heather here, but she really doesn’t get enough screen time to analyze much.  

Reviews-wise this thing isn’t getting a ton of love, but I actually liked it. Just to give you a heads up if you do run out and see this, watch the credits because the newscast that that happens in the background gives a lot of resolution not shown on screen. For some weird reason, this thing does have an abnormally abrupt ending like someone from 1950’s sci-fi high-jacked the ending. 

RETRIBUTION gets a solid 4 out of 7. There are some motive issues that I don’t think really delivered. 

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