Liam Neeson’s retirement from action movies seems a long way off, despite having declared in early 2021 to abandon the genre. After his words, he premiered “Ice Road” and “El protector”. In addition, this year he released ‘The memory of a murderer’ and is awaiting the release of the American remake of the Spanish film ‘The stranger’, entitled ‘Retribution’. Now, the Irishman returns to the cinema with “El mediador”, a production that seems to have been made with the remains of his previous works.
In this film, directed by Mark Williams, who signs the screenplay with Nick May, Neeson is Travis Block, a shadow government agent whose mission is to rescue FBI agents assigned to covert operations. However, it all goes wrong when a candidate for Congress, Sofía Flores, is run over to death in what appears to be an accident. From there, will begin a plot that aims to show how the main pillars of the American system have been corrupted and how Neeson ends up becoming the hero of the film and the protector of the greater good.
Really, everything is predictable in this story, especially in the way Neeson will behave throughout the film and how he will agree to become the anti-hero who has already been seen in films like “The Passenger”, “A Night to Survive” or “Non-Stop”. It’s more, It could also be said that they seem to discard ideas from the recent saga “The Memory of a Murderer” or “The Revenge”introducing the plot of the daughter and granddaughter in distress.
A predictable action movie with absurd situations
However, What makes ‘The Mediator’ a bad movie is that it starts with ridiculous situations. First, it is difficult to believe that an inconvenient congressional candidate in power has no official protection, since figures like this are usually protected, given the threats they face due to the extreme polarization that American society is going through. Afterward, it’s hard to believe that undercover agents need to be rescued from missions that, at least in the film, seem absurd and are only used to wave clichés about Democratic and Republican voters.
That without forgetting the journalistic plot, which looks like a white label imitative version of films like ‘The Pelican Report’ or ‘The Dilemma’, giving the feeling that “El mediador” is more of an after-dinner title by a thematic channel like Energy or Mega. Add to this the performance at the level of Hallmark productions, although these are more honest with the target audience and commercial objectives.
It is clear that Neeson has no plans to abandon action films. However, it might make more sense in choosing projects, as the genre has proven to be capable of delivering brutal, adrenaline-pumping titles that keep audiences waiting until the end, such as ‘Nobody’, ‘Assassin’s Game’ or the recent ‘Bullet Train’. A production that, unfortunately, does not justify the passage to the cinema.
Note 3
The best: Look, Liam Neeson is still in top form.
Worse: An absurd plot, a series of predictable situations and the constant feeling of being a movie for desktop TV.
Source: E Cartelera
