Liam Neeson's car – and family – will explode if he stops driving in new Retribution trailer

The first trailer for Retribution is here – and Liam Neeson is about to go to any means necessary to protect his family. Must be a day ending in 'y', then. 

The trailer opens with Matt (Neeson) driving his two kids to school when he receives a call from an unknown number. The person on the other end of the phone informs him that there is a bomb under his car and there are pressure sensors under all of their seats – if anyone tries to get out of the car, it'll explode. 

And that's not the end of it, either – as the trailer progresses, we see the anonymous voice instructing Neeson to carry out other brutal tasks in order to stop his children from meeting a grisly end. It sounds like Matt's in some trouble at work, too, losing money invested by clients, so there are people out there who would wish him harm. Matt spirals, obsessed with finding out the identity of the person putting his family's lives at risk. 

"We had Liam Neeson on a plane. We had Liam Neeson on a train. We finally get Liam Neeson in a car," said one Twitter user. "We will be watching."

Alongside Neeson, the cast also includes Matthew Modine, The Little Mermaid's Noma Dumezweni, Avatar: The Way of Water's Jack Champion, and Succession's Arian Moayed. The movie was directed by Nimród Antal, who's previously helmed episodes of Stranger Things and Servant. 

Retribution is set to be released on August 25. In the meantime, get your fix of car chases and explosions with our picks of the best Netflix action movies to add to your watchlist. 

Entertainment Writer

I’m an Entertainment Writer here at 12DOVE, covering everything film and TV-related across the Total Film and SFX sections. I help bring you all the latest news and also the occasional feature too. I’ve previously written for publications like HuffPost and i-D after getting my NCTJ Diploma in Multimedia Journalism.