10 Actors Who Virtually Guarantee A Terrible Blockbuster Movie

Obivously, Liam Neeson reinvented himself as one of cinema's most unlikely action stars thanks to Taken, which went on to give him an Indian summer of a**-kicking well into his 60s, but if you take Batman Begins out the equation then the Irishman turning up in a big-budget blockbuster more often than not falls into 'paycheck gig only' territory.

Sure, he was great as Qui-Gon Jinn in The Phantom Menace but was let down by the quality of the movie that surrounded him, while the first installment in the prequel trilogy hit theaters just weeks before he took top billing in Jan de Bont's universally-panned $80m remake of The Haunting.

Since then, turns in two Narnia movies, Clash of the Titans and sequel Wrath, The A-Team, Battleship, The Huntsman: Winter's War and Men in Black: International haven't exactly seen him forced to stretch his acting muscles, with the movies themselves hardly scoring widespread acclaim either.

Neeson has always been good value as a stoic father figure and latterly an ageing throat-puncher, but far too often he shows up in these blockbuster movies simply to go through the motions and be handsomely rewarded for his efforts.