He led the A-Team, fought Batman, trained the Jedi and sent Darth Vader to training, he was Zeus for that, but he didn’t want to be James Bond. Apparently two months before the premiere of his latest film “Ultimatum” he turned 71 years old, and for at least the last 20 years he is considered one of the best actors of action cinema. Not because he does spectacular splits or exceptionally picturesquely knocks out opponents’ teeth (even if he could, because he was an amateur boxing champion in Ulster).
“Do they know how old I am?” Liam Neeson is back in an action movie
Although the director of “Ultimatum” did not deny himself the pleasure of showing Neeson boxing a punching bag, his hero definitely does not belong to the type of people who, like MacGyver, are able to make scotch tape, life gum and firearm hairpins. He is, however, an extremely efficient businessman whose work overshadowed his life and made him distant from his wife and children. Pressed against the wall, however, he changes from everyman to the type who will stop at nothing to protect the people closest to him.
“Ultimatum” is a remake of the Spanish thriller “Unknown” from 2015. The plot sounds very familiar: busy financier Matt Turner (Liam Neeson) gets into his luxury car one morning with two children to drop off at school. It’s an absolute coincidence, because usually his wife does it, but he has important things to do in the city this morning. This, of course, is definitely an unfortunate coincidence. While Matt is sitting in the car with the kids, he finds a mysterious phone in the glove compartment.
An ominous voice informs him that there is a bomb with a detonator under his seat that will go off if he gets up from his seat. The blackmailer warns that if he contacts the police, he will set off a bomb and tells Matt to follow his next orders. He quickly proves that the situation is really dangerous – Turner will have to fight not only for his life and reputation, but above all for his children. And all this, of course, without leaving the car.
Although “Ultimatum” does not lack spectacular explosions and crazy chase scenes around Berlin, which is very picturesquely filmed, they do not build real tension here, which is quite dense here. Known for his “Controllers”, which was appreciated at international film festivals, director Nimród Antal made “Ultimatum” a very European production, with all the typically Hollywood appearance, with actors and emotions written on a human face. There is no shortage of those here, and what’s more, the casting is really successful here – especially in the case of young actors playing the main character’s children. Lilly Aspell and Jack Champion really are worthy partners in joint scenes with the film’s father.
Let’s be honest, however, that this film should not be watched for the surprising plot, spectacular special effects and hectoliters of fake blood. Because in this respect, we won’t see anything groundbreaking – it’s full of proven mechanisms and predictable clues. However, it is worth appreciating how smoothly the story flows and how it draws you in. I won’t say that I was initially particularly positive about the film about a man with two children locked in a car-trap, something in me resisted. And yet Liam Neeson almost hypnotized me, which made the screening adequately exciting, although a few of the dialogues would have to be rewritten, because they were so clichéd that it couldn’t be more. And yet I think it’s a solid film product that doesn’t insult human intelligence.
The big advantage of this production is also that it is not dragged out. Antal, who boasts of his Hungarian roots, managed to fit in 90 minutes, which is a really amazing achievement recently, because almost every Hollywood film lasts at least two hours, and most often the length reaches around 180 minutes. And it’s getting more and more unbearable – and I’m writing this from the position of a man who watched Bollywood productions without batting an eyelid for pure fun. And with “Ultimatum” you can even feel unsatisfied, which is a nice change.
Play it again Liam
There is also nothing to hide: myk with the driver trapped in the car is clever. Sam Liam Neeson in The Times recently confessed with disarming honesty that he is surprised that he still receives action scripts despite being in his seventies: “I call my agent and ask: Do they know how old I am?” He emphasized, “People think I’m doing my own stunts, but I’m not. Look, the sum of dollars is very satisfactory. And I’m not getting any younger.”
Clearly, filmmakers are looking for ways to use the actor’s potential without straining their physical abilities too much. Not so long ago, Neeson played a truck driver in the film “Ice Trail”, who leads a rescue mission to help trapped miners. I think Liam would be able to star in a crazy action movie even if he only had to talk on the phone.
Because firstly, he has charisma, secondly, a solid acting workshop, and thirdly – when he says that if you keep messing with him, he will find you and kill you, you believe him without the slightest reservation. Because you remember that he has “specific skills that he acquired after years of training.”
On the one hand, the “Taken” film series gave Neeson what he could get if he decided to play James Bond (the actor resigned because his future wife then told him that if he played the role of agent 007, they would not get married), on the other hand, she lined him with a very commercially attractive drawer full of roles of very masculine men and tough guys. He draws from it to the fullest, and yet, apart from the stock ones, he is great in other genres and definitely tries to keep a professional balance. In fact, the role in “Ultimatum” even seems to be a compromise between challenging yourself as an actor and providing the audience with entertainment.
In 2023, on the occasion of the promotion of the film “Marlowe”, in which, of course, he played the main role of a gloomy noir detective, he gave an interview to the portal . In it, he explained how he chooses the films he will star in: “Drama depends on the spoken word. The spoken word depends on the writers. So if when I read the script I feel that it’s very well written, then I’m interested in it.” He emphasized:
I always call it my ‘cup of tea’ test. When an agent sends me a script, I read it and by page five I think absently that I need to make myself some tea – not a good sign. But if I go through the whole scenario and think excitedly: I need to make some tea! It means ‘yes’, which is a very good sign.
Source: Gazeta
Bruce is a talented author and journalist with a passion for entertainment . He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the industry.
