Liam Neeson Somehow Ended Up In 2025's Best And Worst Action Movies

Following the success of "Taken," Liam Neeson had a late-career resurgence as an action star. Even though Neeson himself doesn't quite understand his action-heavy resume, it's resulted in some great flicks. "Cold Pursuit," in particular, is an underrated gem, but for every cheer-worthy film of Neeson kicking butt, there's something you wouldn't even want to watch on a plane. Astonishingly, Neeson did both kinds of films in 2025, as he stars in both the best and worst action films of the year.

To start with the good, Neeson spearheaded the hilarious action-comedy legacy sequel "The Naked Gun." He stars as Frank Drebin Jr., the son of Leslie Nielsen's character from the original trilogy, who has every bit of deadpan humor as his predecessor. Neeson has shown he can provide laughs in small doses with brief appearances in "Ted 2" and "The LEGO Movie." No one knew how much they needed to hear Neeson rant about how good of a show "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" is before "The Naked Gun," but we're glad we have it now. 

Despite too many jokes to count, "The Naked Gun" is still very much an action movie, complete with car chases, a bank robbery, and trying to escape from a snowman gone mad. Critics loved it, and with over 300 reviews counted, it currently sits at an impressive 88% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. One could chalk this up to an amazing year for Neeson, that is if he didn't also star in an absolutely dreadful action flick called "Ice Road: Vengeance."

"Ice Road: Vengeance" is actually a sequel to 2021's "The Ice Road," which Looper gave a pretty middling review for, with Liam Neeson returning as ice road trucker Mike McCann. This time around, Mike's traveling to the Himalayas to scatter his brother's ashes but has to fend off mercenaries along the way. From that description alone, it's easy to ascertain that "Ice Road: Vengeance" isn't the barrel of laughs that "The Naked Gun" is, but that could be overlooked if it was a halfway decent action flick. As it stands, the film currently holds a 17% score on Rotten Tomatoes , with Clint Worthington of RogerEbert.com writing, "Writer-director Jonathan Hensleigh's follow-up barely stands apart from any of the other baker's dozen punch-em-ups Neeson has led in the last decade."

Despite an initial release on June 27, "Ice Road: Vengeance" quickly made its way to Netflix on September 15. It debuted as the #1 movie watched on the streamer, an impressive feat and proof positive that a lot of people are content watching Neeson evade bad guys and get himself into mortal danger. But all those people watching "Ice Road: Vengeance" on Netflix should absolutely give "The Naked Gun" a chance. It's different from most Neeson action roles, because he's actually funny this time around. Perhaps that'll be a deterrent for some fans who prefer a stoic Neeson, but "The Naked Gun" is already a winner in one big way. 

"The Naked Gun" grossed just over $100 million at the box office, and it's slated to drop on Paramount+ on September 30. If "The Ice Road" can get a sequel, "The Naked Gun" should absolutely get one, too.