10 Remarkable Movie Performances By The Last Actor You'd Expect

10. Liam Neeson In Taken

Before 2008, you would never expect to see "Liam Neeson" and "action hero" together in the same sentence. Sure he'd dabbled in action movies before with Phantom Menace and Batman Begins, but, like a lot of respected British actors, that was strictly in the role of a wise mentor figure. Certainly, no-one ever expected to see him jumping onto boats and knifing bad guys in the throat.

Even Taken itself didn't seem likely to succeed when first announced, just another by the numbers action film destined for the DVD bargain bins. And yet, thanks to a combination of some incredibly well shot action sequences and a stellar performance from Neeson, it ended up being one of the best action films of the past two decades.

Neeson managed to make the character of Bryan Mills work, giving him a sense world-weariness and likeability that's undercut with a sense of brutality that absolutely makes you believe he's the kind of guy who would strap a car battery to a man's nipples. It's become a signature role for Neeson and his gravelly delivery of "I will look for you, I will find you and I will kill you" has become an iconic line.

The sequels were pretty pants though, as were a lot of the "over-the-hill action star gives it another shot" films that it inspired, but let's not hold that against him.