Retribution

I went into this not knowing anything about it; I didn't know it was a remake nor what the plot is. Turns out, it's a contained thriller that's quite well-paced, managing to wring enough tension and suspense out of its simple premise with strong editing.

Neeson and some of the other cast members really do give it their all, and they bring life to the film that makes up for the bland direction and cinematography.

While most of the time the movie is compulsively watchable, what really holds it back is the script. It's bad.

It's a strange kind of bad that really does feel like this screenplay was generated by ChatGPT. Nearly all of the dialogue is stilted and generic, and the story moves kind of haphazardly, as though a machine were calculating what was the next appropriate action movie plot point to throw in next.

I guess it's better than many of the other beige action flicks Neeson has churned out over the years, but it's still far from good.