How Liam Neeson ignited the 'man with a special set of skills' genre, one that is still going strong

Keanu Reeves, Denzel Washington, and Bob Odenkirk have carried on the tradition of seemingly nobodies who are truly somebody.

“Good luck.”

The tempting wish of a bad guy was all Liam Neeson’s Bryan Mills needed to hear for revenge to commence. Taking his daughter was one thing, but wishing him a taunt was the final straw. 16 years ago, Neeson took a tiring genre and plugged it back into the outlet. Except for Jason Statham and his low-key action bangers, no one was touching the retired badass who finds his tree poked by the wrong people.

Taken, directed by Pierre Morel, came out of nowhere with a January release that exploded into a $25 million movie turning into a $226 million-grossing franchise. Taken 2 and 3 weren’t great movies, but Neeson made them serviceable. With this particular action genre cul-de-sac, the film needed a real movie star who could sell tickets.

Neeson was the award-nominated actor who returned to his roots of sorts and plunged into the action genre following the death of his wife. He kicked ass, and looked good doing it. Few can forget the immortal speech that he delivered to the taunting kidnapper before his trail of vengeance began. It’s a rite of passage for the hero to perform a physical or verbal act that kicks off the action.

Digging up your concrete-buried goods in the basement is one way to do it. Keanu Reeves may not have Neeson’s acting chops, but he fits the bill of John Wick by performing the stunts and crafting the character on the page to his specifications. In other words, Reeves turned the retired-no-more assassin into a modern-day gunslinger who could rip through a room of men with a pencil, seven bullets, and his own body.

The out-of-nowhere release was Lionsgate tossing a fishing line into the October waters, and coming away with a four-film franchise that has already produced a TV show spinoff, a movie spinoff with Ana de Armas, and a possible fifth movie with Reeves. In this corner of make-believe, characters are never really dead… even if they take three bullets and pass out on church steps in Paris.

Denzel Washington has more Oscars than either of the previously mentioned actors and has made three Equalizer movies with director Antoine Fuqua. While on a press tour for the upcoming Gladiator 2, Washington spilled the beans on two more sequels being in the works for his protagonist, Robert McCall. Unlike the Taken series and more in line with Wick’s quadruple display of world-building and success, Fuqua’s Equalizer sequels were well-made action flicks that delivered what was promised.

The recipe remained the same: A seemingly mild-mannered man minding his business gets pulled back into the game. For Mills, it was the kidnapping of his daughter. For Wick, it was the murder of his dog (a gift from his dead wife) and the theft of his muscle car. For McCall, it was the Russian mob beating up a young woman that he had befriended. All the heroes need is a slight push, and the stakes are set. Or, when Washington’s rogue sets his watch.

Out of a pool of actors, Bob Odenkirk wouldn’t be on most people’s bingo cards to portray such a character. Before he stepped into Hutch Mansell’s skin for Ilya Naishuller’s Nobody, another relatively out-of-nowhere hit, he was most known for playing a sleazy lawyer who wouldn’t dare throw a punch. Mansell fits the same profile: A working man with a sweet family hiding a secret ability who has lost the spark in his life.

Odenkirk’s “nobody,” as he calls himself, finds the will to kick ass again from a late-night bus encounter with a group of young mobsters. They underestimate him, and all end up in the hospital. By the end, most of them are in the morgue next to Wick and Mills’s victims. I think the four men, including McCall, could all share a few beers or two about their travels in a mega-team-up film that will never happen.

I’m glad the genre was brought back by Neeson and maintained by the others. Along with more Equalizers and Wicks, a second Nobody film is currently filming. A lot of people dig this stuff.

How much? Combined, the three Taken movies have grossed $981 million worldwide on a combined budget of $110 million, and also facilitated a television show adaptation. Denzel’s Equalizer trilogy has grossed $583 on a combined budget of $184 million. None of them have fared better than John Wick, whose four films have brought in a whopping $1 billion.

All of them, including Nobody’s modest $57 million take home on a slim $14 million budget, made much more than they cost. Instead of placing stock in superhero or animated films, bet on the next action genre product that features the right blend of actor: Part believable avenger and well-known actor who understands the terrain.

As far as the sequels go, I think Washington’s franchise has more mileage than Reeves’s *seemingly* dead hitman, but I wouldn’t be surprised at a fifth film. Neeson has made every version of good guy over the past decade and a half that even he’s called it quits on shooting and punching a few different times. Odenkirk seems to be enjoying the mid-career change, and the crisp original Nobody left more for audiences to discover, plot wise.

Whatever happens, give me more of the silent yet deadly good guy who picks up the troubles of others, and fixes things… permanently. Now, watch my (albeit brief) interview with Neeson, where he corrected me about the difference between a leading man doing his own stunts, or doing his own fights.

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