These days, Liam Neeson is pretty firmly established as an action movie star, but he did dabble in other genres earlier in his career.
The Academy Award-nominee played the villainous Ra's al Ghul in Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins, before reprising the role for a brief scene in The Dark Knight Rises. He also played the titular anti-hero in Sam Raimi's Darkman back in 1990.
Neeson hasn't appeared in any superhero/comic book movies since, and it doesn't sound like he has any desire to!
"I'll be honest: All these superhero movies? I'm not a fan. I'm really not," Neeson admitted to Rolling Stone during a recent interview. "I admire them because it's Hollywood with all their bells and whistles and technology, which is phenomenal, but they all seem to me to be just the same story. You can say, 'OK, you did do Chris Nolan's.'"
When the interviewer mentioned that Nolan's trilogy also infused more noir elements, Neeson responded: "You took the words right out of my mouth. They had a noir feel to them. And Chris Bale and Gary Oldman? Come on! What a cast. And Michael [Caine] and Morgan [Freeman]? My god!"
Neeson is hardly the first person to make this criticism, and, to be fair, he's not wrong! Superhero movies do tend to follow a certain formula, but the same can be said for the majority of big studio blockbusters at the end of the day - along with the seemingly endless array of Taken clones Neeson has appeared in over the years!
Neeson doesn't seem to be as hesitant about potentially appearing in another Darkman movie, however, as he expressed interest in reading the script for the planned reboot/sequel last year.
What do you guys make of Neeson's comments? Be sure to share your thoughts down below.
About The Author:
Mark Cassidy is a writer, photographer, amateur filmmaker, and Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic from Dublin, Ireland.