Quartile rating: 6.5/10 · 1 rating
When a mysterious caller plants a bomb under his car seat, a bank executive begins a high-speed chase across the city to complete a specific series of tasks — all with his kids trapped in the back seat.
Retribution is a competent but largely formulaic thriller remake of the Spanish film El desconocido. The confined-car premise generates some tension, but the plot is riddled with contrivances and predictable twists. Neeson delivers his reliable everyman-in-peril performance, though the material doesn't stretch him. Berlin provides a reasonably slick backdrop but the cinematography is workmanlike rather than distinctive. As a remake with a recycled high-concept premise, novelty is low. The ending resolves in a fairly unsatisfying, by-the-numbers fashion that undercuts whatever tension was built.