It’s a little strange how Liam Neeson’s career pivoted when it did, with the release of Taken. Not strange in the sense that it happened to him, but in the sense that it hasn’t really happened to anyone else.

For instance, why didn’t it happen to Pierce Brosnan? The fellow Irishman, of similar age at 71 (Neeson is 72), had the benefit of taking on the iconic role of Bond, which would lend itself perfectly to more violent roles as a leading man. In fact this almost feels like Brosnan’s Taken, as he plays a hit man out for revenge.

Charlie has lived in the Deep South working for his boss Stan (James Caan) for over twenty years. Stan is in his twilight years now, and is starting to suffer from ill health, which considering his occupation as a mob boss, is seen as a door ajar for those around him.

Charlie is loyal to Stan, so takes it personally when another gang leader Beggar (Gbenga Akinnagbe) shows his hand by wanting to wipe Stan and his entire crew out – including Charlie.

As you would expect, Charlie takes exception to this, and with the help of Marcie (Morena Baccarin), the girlfriend of a now deceased gang member, decides to get even.

The story of revenge is as old as time, and Australian director Phillip Noyce – who’s another one whose career possibly didn’t go in the desired direction after a stomping stat with the likes of 1989’s Dead Calm, and his Jack Ryan double Patriot Games and Clear and Present Danger - doesn’t offer too much in the way of originality in the telling of this tale, based on Victor Gischler’s 2001 novel Gun Monkey.

What it does however, is offer Brosnan an opportunity to get his Taken, albeit in a rather pleasing, laid back fashion. It’s a modern noir, with Brosnan offering a voice-over throughout, as he goes about his business. And even at the age of 71, he has an unmistakable screen presence, so much so that when it’s suggested that there could be romance on the cards between himself and the younger Marcie, it’s not that much of a stretch to see it happen.

The trade off for Brosnan perhaps, for not having the Taken effect happen to him, is that he has had a varied career, and certainly hasn’t been typecast despite being one of the best OO7s.

He also gets to share the screen with James Caan, in what was to be his last role, so that’s got to be worth it in itself.

Where the film suffers is possibly from Noyce just being a little too safe. There was an opportunity to go full out, with an aging hitman leaving a bloodbath in his wake, but perhaps that wouldn’t be in keeping with the source material, or just lack the subtlety that perhaps he was after. That said, it does feature a delicious death in a car that would make the show reel of any director that little bit better.

Perhaps if someone else had a crack at it more could have been squeezed out of it, but there’s no denying that Brosnan is superb, despite a dodgy US accent, and that if his career was to pivot like Neeson’s did, he could have taken it on with ease.