Word has it that when Liam Neeson accepted the lead role in this film he did so because he was looking at his own age and thinking "this is my last chance to be in an action film." He (and the producers) had no idea it was going to be as epic as it ended up being.

The people who were financing this film hadn't intended that it would be a trilogy, nor had Neeson, but based on it's budget this film ended up being one of the highest grossing (proportionally) films of all time.

Have you seen it, because wow! you really should if you have not. It is really something else. Is it over the top and absurd? of course, but that doesn't stop it from being wonderful. It is entertaining from start to finish. However, the potential viewer needs to understand that it is also just a "beat em up" type piece of cinematography and really nothing special happens in-between.

Liam Neeson went from being a love story actor to being an action star basically overnight with the advent of this film and while it isn't particularly ground-breaking, to suggest that it is not entertaining would be to LIE. This movie is awesome. That being said, the acting aside from Neeson is not very good in the movie and well, you kind of know what is going to happen from the very start.

This movie was intended to make money but i don't think anyone involved ever dreamed that it would make 10 times the investment in the original program and none of the sequels came close to matching this one either.

I can't give this film high marks because well, it is amazing based greatly upon the fact that it wasn't supposed to do as well as it did. That being said: This movie is f**king awesome and great fun to watch.