The American-Hungarian filmmaker Nimród Antal was considered one of the most promising independent filmmakers by the beginning of the new century thanks to his awards-winner Hungarian crime and mystery drama Control (2003), which achieved the Award of the Youth prize at the Cannes Film Festival in 2004. But after being responsible for several custom work projects that lacked the personality of an auteur film as his debut did, with the titles Vacancy (2007), Armored (2009), Predators (2010), and episodes in the TV series Wayward Pines (2015–2016), Stranger Things (2016–2024), and Servant (2019–2023), the hype got diluted fast. Still, he regained popularity in the underground circuit with the Hungarian production The Whiskey Bandit (2017), aka A Viszkis, which he wrote and directed.
With the action-thriller Retribution (2023), Nimród Antal is back to directing a commission work. The movie tells the story of a bank executive who receives a bomb threat while driving his children to school that his car will explode if they stop and get out.
The film is the 3rd remake of the Spanish action thriller with the same name in English and called El Desconocido (2015) in the original language after the German Don’t. Get. Out! (2018) and the South Korean Hard Hit (2018). The author of the original screenplay is Alberto Marini, also the writer of Romasanta (2004), Sleep Tight (2011) (aka Mientras Duermes), Extinction (2015), Summer Camp (2015), Your Son (2018), and Hostage Radio (2019). Christopher Salmanpour, one of the writers in the FBI: Most Wanted (2020) TV series, debuts as the writer of a feature film with Retribution (2023).
The main star in the film is Liam Neeson, a frequent performer in these kinds of action thrillers known for starring in Memory (2022), Blacklight (2022), Honest Thief (2020), Cold Pursuit (2019), The Commuter (2018), Run All Night (2015), Non-Stop (2014), Unknown (2011), and the Taken saga which started this series of Liam Neeson action flicks. Noma Dumezweni, Lilly Aspell, Jack Champion, Arian Moayed, Embeth Davidtz, Matthew Modine, and Emily Kusche also star.
Retribution (2023) is Rated R for some language and violence. The movie is coming out in theaters on August 25, 2023. Watch its official trailer.
