Retribution

Grade: B-

It was 2003, 20 years ago, when I saw Joel Schumacher’s movie Phone Booth in the theater. In it, Colin Farrell played a publicist who got stuck on a pay phone call with an anonymous sniper (effectively voiced by Kiefer Sutherland). He couldn’t hang up, otherwise…bang! It turned out, the motive was to get Farrell to be honest and come clean to people in his life (like his wife) that he was concealing things from (like a mistress).

A similar premise is put to use in Retribution – a quick hour and a half action thriller. After a tiny bit of exposition where we meet bank executive Matt Turner (Liam Neeson), his boss (Matthew Modine), and his family (Embeth Davidtz, Jack Champion, Lilly Aspell), we are off to the races. While driving his children to school, Neeson receives a call from a phone he’s never seen that has been planted in the car. Someone speaking through a voice disguiser informs him that there’s a bomb under his seat, that won’t go off as long as there’s their weight on the seats. This means that nobody can leave the car, otherwise…kablooie! Also, the caller has the power to detonate if they catch wind of anything they don’t like. No calling the police or other signaling for help, otherwise…kerblammo! Early on, they see some grisly evidence that lets them know this is for real.

I’m not sure everything holds up. The anonymous caller would have to rely on very lucky timing for everything to work out, and I wondered how they were able to see and keep such close tabs on Neeson. Still, Retribution successfully sucked me in. I don’t know if it’s the hair dye or potential Hollywood de-aging, but I could easily buy 71-year-old Neeson as the father of two school-aged kids. It was nice to see Embeth Davidtz again, and I’ll just say Noma Dumezweni is a strong presence in her supporting role.

The final act is clumsy, with an abrupt ending. After we find out the identity of the voice on the phone, Scooby Doo style, what follows is a lengthy Talking Killer monologue that eventually made me want them to move on so something – anything – else could happen. What is learned isn’t completely earned, but we don’t watch movies like this for a moral or arc. Retribution is a taut, efficient, mostly absorbing thriller. It works on the level it’s supposed to.

Grade: B-