“Liam Neeson: Typecast or Versatile? A Deep Dive into 8 Strikingly Similar Roles Portrayed by the Actor”
Liam Neeson has appeared in many different roles, but the brooding vengeful guy has somehow stuck.
When Taken (2008) became a surprise hit, Liam Neeson had transitioned from leading man to a decent character actor. Since then, he’s raked in some very healthy paychecks for some very mediocre to bad movies, most of which feature him in a familiar role.
Liam Neeson has starred in about 139 projects and a good deal of them see the actor in a leading role as either a brooding ex-military/intelligence operative or a vengeful father and family man in general.
These days, if Liam Neeson’s name is attached to a project it is often expected to be an action-thriller; it’s almost as if these roles are written specifically with the Hollywood veteran in mindov.
A lot of actors are afraid of being typecast, like Josh Hartnett, who turned down a $100 million role because of those fears. Liam Neeson is not one of those actors; he is obviously good at these roles that are within his comfort zone, hence why studios keep casting the actor to play slight variations of the same character over and over.
Though the actor has played a wide array of roles, his most popular films in a sense seem to push his typecasted image to movie goers. Fans don’t seem to mind either, in fact they want “the revenge action movies king” to be cast in the cinematic adaptation of a real-life murder story.
He has appeared in many different roles, but the brooding vengeful guy has somehow stuck. Here are eight movies starring Liam Neeson in nearly identical roles.
8Was Liam Neeson Typecast After This Trilogy?
Liam Neeson’s role in Taken (2008), where he plays a former spy Bryan Mills, who uses his particular skill set to save his kidnapped daughter (played by Maggie Grace) is comparable to several other roles in this list.
He would also reprise the role for two sequels in 2012 and 2014. The first movie is the highest rated on Rotten Tomatoes at 59% with ratings going downhill for the second and third movies.
7Liam Neeson Also Starred In This 2014 Movie
Also in 2014, Liam Neeson played an alcoholic ex-NYPD officer turned Federal Air Marshal who must find a killer on an international flight, from New York to London, after receiving texts saying someone on board will be executed every 20 minutes until financial demands are met. Non-Stop has a 61% Rotten Tomatoes score and a 63% rating from audiences.
6Liam Neeson Played Another Familiar Role In 2018
In another typical Liam Neeson role, he was cast to play Michael McCauley in The Commuter (2018). Michael McCauley is an insurance salesman/ex-cop who is caught up in a life-threatening conspiracy during his daily commute home.
The movie also features Patrick Wilson and rising star Florence Pugh.
5Liam Neeson Played This Slightly Different But No Dissimilar Role In 2019
In 2019, he played the vengeful father once more in Cold Pursuit (2019). This time he was just a grieving snowplow driver seeking revenge against the members of a drug cartel for the killing of his son, who died from a forced heroin overdose.
Cold Pursuit is a remake of the Norwegian film In Order of Disappearance (2014), both films were directed by Hans Petter Moland.
4Who Did Liam Neeson Play In Honest Thief?
After playing a few off brand roles, he returned to his typecast style in Honest Thief (2020). This time the actor portrayed Tom Dolan, a notorious bank robber who wants to live a honest life, so he turns himself in to the FBI, only to be double-crossed by two ruthless agents and must now go on the run to clear his name and bring them to justice.
3This Was Liam Neeson’s Next Role After Honest Thief
Liam Neeson starred in The Marksman (2021) right after Honest Thief. In the movie, he plays a rancher on the Arizona border who saves a young Mexican boy from cartel assassins who are pursuing him. Similarly to his previous role, The Marksman was criticized as being formulaic while being praised for Neeson’s performance.
2This Is One Of Seven Liam Neeson Projects In 2022
Next up is his portrayal of Travis Block in Blacklight (2022). Liam Neeson plays a government operative coming to terms with his shadowy past.
Block finds himself in the cross-hairs of the FBI director he once helped protect when he discovers a plot targeting U.S. citizens.
In spite of its $43 million budget, the film grossed only $16 million, and was panned by critics, with many calling it Neeson’s worst film.
1Liam Neeson Recently Starred In This Remake
Liam Neeson’s latest in a long list of familiar roles is in the movie Memory, a 2022 film based on the novel De Zaak Alzheimer by Jef Geeraerts and is a remake of the novel’s previous adaptation, the Belgian film The Alzheimer Case.
After refusing to complete a job for a dangerous criminal organization, Liam Neeson’s character Alex Lewis finds himself a target of said organization.
