6 Liam Neeson Action Movies That Prove Why You Should Never Travel With Him, Including Taken 2 & The Grey

Published Sep 12, 2026, 10:30 PM EDT Anthony is a news reporter and a guide writer who has covered the entertainment industry for five years. He has covered a wide range of genres, including aviation incidents and international crime, and has a keen eye for details that may slip under the radar. When he's not writing, Anthony can be found at Brands Hatch race track or at home watching indie horror movies nobody has heard of. Liam Neeson is an action movie veteran with an impressively diverse filmography, including some exceptionally beloved characters. He was Obi-Wan Kenobi's master as Qui-Gon Jinn in Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace. He also trained the Caped Crusader as Ducard in Batman Begins, even if there's more to him than meets the eye. Neeson is certainly known for some famous fantasy movies, but he's played many more contemporary, grounded roles. In 2008's Taken, Neeson plays Bryan Mills. It's a gritty action movie with a terrifying premise, as his daughter is kidnapped by a human trafficking gang while abroad on holiday. Mills relies on his skills and contacts as a former CIA agent to hunt his daughter's captors and ultimately save her from a grim fate. The chilling premise does a lot of the heavy lifting in Taken, and the movie arguably cemented Neeson as an unconventional Hollywood action hero. Since then, the actor has starred in numerous movies with obvious similarities to the 2008 thriller. In other words, he portrays men with very dangerous skillsets who live otherwise normal lives, until a terrible event sends them into action. Many of Neeson's later titles don't share the grim premise of Taken. However, several of his characters do seem to embody traits that make Bryan Mills such a fan favorite. He frequently finds himself in wild, yet grounded situations, leaning on grit and experience to survive. Interestingly, many of Liam Neeson's best movies also put him in dangerous situations far away from home. It may seem like an odd connection between his films, but here's a selection of movies that prove you should never travel with him. 6 Non-Stop (2014) Image via Universal Non-Stop is a fast-paced action thriller set thousands of feet in the air. Liam Neeson stars as Bill Marks, an Air Marshal on a transatlantic flight who receives an ominous message on his phone. That message threatens to kill someone on board the busy aircraft every 20 minutes unless ransom demands are met. At first, it seems like an empty threat because it's surely difficult to commit murder without being caught on a plane. Nevertheless, paranoia quickly spreads through the aircraft when the crew discovers a dead body in the bathroom, confirming Marks' worst fears. The situation quickly escalates when Marks himself becomes a suspected accomplice in the plot. With this premise, the movie could have easily become a simple whodunit, but it delivers enough fast-paced action that it still has the identity of a Liam Neeson movie. Non-Stop is an intense movie that leans into psychological thriller territory as the mystery unfolds. The action also feels quite claustrophobic when we learn that whoever is sending Marks the messages is also on board the plane themselves. 5 The Commuter (2018) The Commuter leans more into conspiracy thriller elements than the other movies on this list. It also provides a great reason never to board a train with Neeson, who stars as Michael MacCauley. He's a salesman and former police officer who commutes to work on the same train daily. It seems like another regular day until another commuter, Joanna (Vera Farmiga), approaches Michael with a strange proposition. She asks him to find someone on the train who "does not belong," with a $75,000 reward. Michael refuses to cooperate at first, but he's forced to when Joanna threatens his family. The Commuter has many moving parts, making for an intense conspiracy story with consequences that could affect everyone on board. The movie also boasts an impressive supporting cast, including Patrick Wilson, Jonathan Banks, and Sam Neill. Similar to Non-Stop, it cleverly blends action with mystery, a combination befitting great Liam Neeson movies. 4 Taken 2 (2012) We've already mentioned the original Taken and its chilling premise that plays on real-world fears. However, the story of Taken 2 is arguably far worse for anyone traveling with Bryan Mills. The movie takes place after the events of the 2008 film, with the father of someone Mills killed now hell-bent on revenge. This new villain strikes during Mills' family trip to Istanbul. This new group kidnaps Bryan and his wife, Lenore (Famke Janssen). They also make it very clear that Bryan's death will not be quick. He's forced to rely on his daughter, Kim, to help him escape, as the family is pursued by a powerful enemy. While the plot is less grounded than the original movie, Taken 2 thrusts a family we care about into another harrowing situation far from home, making it different enough from its predecessor to make it a worthwhile follow-up. 3 Retribution (2023) Fans of 90s action movies will immediately notice similarities between Retribution and Speed in all the right ways. The movie stars Neeson as Matt Turner. In the movie, Liam Neeson's character is introduced as a high-level bank executive and gets a chilling phone call while taking his children to school. A mysterious voice on the line claims that there is a bomb under his car seat. The explosive is pressure sensitive, so neither Matt nor his children can leave. The caller also threatens to blow the vehicle up if Matt refuses to comply with his demands. It's a bleak situation that only escalates when Matt's actions catch the authorities' attention, and he becomes a suspect. Retribution is a tense action thriller with a gripping conspiracy story. The stakes are high, with the children's lives on the line as we try to uncover who is on the other end of the phone. 2 The Grey (2011) The Grey is a unique movie on this list, with a deadly, non-human threat. Neeson stars as Ottway, a skilled outdoorsman. He's on a plane with a group of workers from an oil rig. But the plane crashes in the frigid Alaskan wilderness, leaving them struggling to survive. Ottway leads the group across the unforgiving environment in the hopes of finding safety. It's a brutal journey, and the survivors' luck goes from bad to worse when they stumble into territory roamed by a pack of wolves. Ottway's group is stuck in a hopeless situation, forced to keep moving if they don't want to end up on the menu. The Grey is a tense action survival movie that feels quite different from the other titles on this list. Ottway is also a surprisingly complex and tragic character, standing out against others in Neeson's filmography. 1 The Ice Road (2021) The Ice Road tells a story about a high-stakes rescue mission in the frigid wilderness of Northern Canada. A mineshaft collapses, trapping more than 20 workers in the tunnels as they slowly run out of air. Time is of the essence, and the authorities enlist several truckers, including Liam Neeson's Mike McCann, to help. The journey to the tunnels is perilous, as the vehicles are forced to use an icy road, with the threat of a watery grave below if the ground gives way. It's already a dangerous mission, but the situation becomes even more desperate when Mike suspects sabotage. The Ice Road is a survival action story where the dangers of the unforgiving locale are matched only by corporate greed and a group working against the rescue mission itself with a much darker motive.