Every Actor Who Copied Liam Neeson's Taken Comeback - Ranked

Why The Actor Needed It: Washington is something of a Hollywood legend; having gone from award to award with stellar performance after performance.

Despite this, the actor had flirted with action roles over the years (e.g. Richochet, Virtuosity) but those were seen as odd tangents over his dramatic work, and even though heavy gunplay featured in several of his popular leading roles (Man On Fire, Training Day) those were in Crime/Thriller sandbox and would hardly qualify him as an action star.

Still, he always had an action hero itch and wasn't getting any younger or relevant - he would need to step his game up to a Neeson-level project to properly change his trajectory.

Film In Question: In his second collaboration with Antonie Fuqua, the two tailor-built this adaptation of the 80s TV show The Equalizer around Washington's performing strengths.

He plays a noble and introverted man, that also happened to be an extremely effective ex-government killer. Of course, bad guys end up pushing him too far.

Did It Work?: Considering the franchise is still going strong (a successful second instalment with a third in development) Washington has properly taken away Neeson's throne as the 50+ current action star.

He's reinvented himself from respectable Oscar-winner into a Hollywood ultra-badass flawlessly and would easily sit on top - if it wasn't for...