Retribution (PG13)

91 minutes, opens on Thursday
3 stars

The story: An American banker and his two children are trapped in a car rigged to explode if he fails to complete the instructions of a mysterious caller on his cellphone, or if any of them attempts an escape.

The Euro-thriller Retribution, set in Germany’s Berlin, is Speed (1994) with a Mercedes sport utility vehicle and dad at the wheel.

So fortunately, the hedge-fund hotshot father Matt Turner is played by Liam Neeson, whose stock-in-trade is to extricate his family from mortal danger, whether it is his kidnapped daughter in Taken (2008), his abducted wife in Taken 2 (2012), he himself in Taken 3 (2014) or an estranged son in Run All Night (2015).

The Irish thespian’s forays have been sheer formula since his mid-career reinvention as an everyman action hero.

But Hungarian director Nimrod Antal’s (Control, 2003) remake of the 2015 Spanish production El Desconocido is pacey and compact even if it is more of the same.

Over one frantic day, Matt speeds around the city, trying to deliver his kids (Jack Champion and Lilly Aspell) to safety and decipher who is behind this inconvenience and why.

Truth be told, the villain is laughably obvious.

He witnesses his co-workers get blown up along the way as a warning the bombs in his vehicle are no hoax and becomes the prime suspect in their deaths, pursued by Europol.

Also ensnared are Matthew Modine as his business partner and Embeth Davidtz as the wife in the actress’ reunion with Neeson 30 years after Schindler’s List (1993).

Never forget, Neeson earned an Academy Award citation for that star performance. He is capable of more than saving kin and B-movies.

Hot take: Another day, another family in peril, although Neeson’s latest interchangeable rescue mission is not without popcorn thrills.

A Man Of Reason (NC16)

97 minutes, opens on Thursday
2 stars

The story: South Korean actor Jung Woo-sung stars in his own feature directorial debut as a mob enforcer, Soo-hyuk, who wants an ordinary life with his old flame and the daughter he never knew he had after 10 years in prison. Alas, his former associates have other plans for him.

A nightclub brawl fought in darkness using a knife and a flashlight is an early highlight of A Man Of Reason.

Later, one might be jolted momentarily awake by a car demolishing the lobby of a Seoul luxury hotel because this South Korean gangster noir is a snooze. There is no nice way to say it.

As writer-director, Jung’s flair for showy action pieces cannot compensate for the dull boilerplate story of a man trapped by his past.

And playing the stoic anti-hero, this marquee star of The Good The Bad The Weird (2008) and Asura (2016) is so lifeless, he is near unrecognisable.

Every character is just such a single-note archetype with a particular attitude plus cutesy gangland moniker.

The Chairman (Park Sung-woong) is the preening underworld boss. The Washer (Kim Nam-gil) is the crazed assassin he hires after Soo-hyuk offends him by spurning his offer of a load of cash and a gleaming BMW to return to the criminal organisation, which is muscling into real estate in the movie’s sole interesting point about the corporatisation of syndicates.

Soo-hyuk will prove more than their match in protecting his family from violence.

The audience feels only indifference either way, notwithstanding the precocious heart-tugging of his daughter who gets taken hostage.

Hot take: This thrill-free crime thriller is a dud.