In January of 2021, which was almost two and a half years ago, Liam Neeson admitted for a second time that his days as an action hero were drawing to a close, confirming that “there’s a couple in the pipeline and then I think that will probably be it.” Fast forward to today, and it’s been revealed that the veteran will be headlining sequel Ice Road 2: Road To The Sky.
Between those two points – which we’ll again note came after he’d outlined his intentions to give up running and gunning after turning 70 because in his own words “audiences aren’t stupid, you know, they’re gonna go, ‘Oh, f*ck this guy, Liam Neeson. He’s got to be 71, 72, 73…” – it should be noted that he’s done almost nothing but star in action thrillers.
Since once again underlining his desire to step away before he became a parody of himself, the Academy Award nominee has appeared in The Marksman, The Ice Road, Blacklight, Memory, and Marlowe, with Retribution, In the Land of Saints and Sinners, Thug, and Cold Storage on the way, while The Ice Road 2 is gearing up to shoot imminently.
It’s definitely worth noting that Memory and Blacklight both cratered at the box office and found themselves torn apart by critics to rank as a pair of Neeson’s worst-reviewed films in any genre, so the novelty of his Indian summer that began with Taken a decade and a half ago has evidently worn off.
He turns 71 years old this summer, and with at least four more genre flicks to come, he’s dangerously close to becoming that which he stated publicly on numerous occasions he didn’t want to be.