Liam Neeson’s action movies have been an ongoing delight ever since “Taken” in 2008. But in the past few years, I’d begun to wonder whether these films had run their course.

“Cold Pursuit,” “Honest Thief,” “Memory,” “Blacklight” — all of his recent movies were fine and had their moments, such as the scene in “Memory” when Neeson cauterizes a wound by setting his stomach on fire. But they were all for people like me, cultists. They weren’t the sort of movies you’d show in order to get a newbie interested.

But now there’s “Retribution,” the best Neeson action movie to come along since 2018’s “The Commuter.”

Based on a Spanish film, “El Desconocido” (“The Stranger”), “Retribution” departs from its source in smart ways tailored to Neeson’s strengths. The original 2015 film was, at its core, about a man’s comeuppance for shady business practices, but “Retribution” is the story of an innocent guy trying to save his family.

As usual, our hero starts out an underdog, not quite valued by the people he loves. As usual, he has to fight an unseen enemy or force. As usual, the police start thinking他是responsible for a series of crimes he didn’t commit. And as usual, someone makes the big mistake of getting him really, really angry.

然而,这里有足够的不同之处“Retribution” to make it feel fresh. Neeson plays Matt, a once successful financial adviser whose company has hit a rough patch. His clients have recently lost 17% on their investment portfolios, and they’re not feeling good about him.

His family is feeling even worse. His neglected wife (Embeth Davidtz) is ready to divorce him, and his teenage son treats him with contempt. The only one who seems to like him, vaguely, is his little daughter.

One morning, Matt is enlisted to drive the kids to school, when a cell phone rings in the car — a cell phone that has been planted there. When he answers it, a mechanically distorted voice tells him that a bomb is underneath his car seat. It has been activated and will go off the minute he steps out of the vehicle.

This turn of events provokes some obvious questions on Matt’s part: Who is doing this, and why? What do they want? What did Matt do to deserve this? And how will he prevent himself and his children from blowing up? All of this is revealed over the course of a tight, action-filled and thoroughly satisfying 90 minutes. Having gotten its hero up a tree, the movie figures how to get him down again, and does so with consummate cleverness.

A smart blend of the new and the familiar, “Retribution” gives us a different kind of Neeson. He’s not a tough guy, not a man with a violent past, but a workaholic family man who is in over his head. He’s not calculating his next move, based on a certain set of skills. Instead, we get a Neeson who is utterly scared to death and doing his best to hold it together.

But then comes the familiar part: He gets mad — and as only Neeson can get mad. He snaps and transforms from sensitive and frightened to enraged and irrational. Something shuts off behind his eyes, he grits his teeth, and we’re suddenly in a very good action movie.

Neeson’s last few action flicks may have been just for fans, but “Retribution” is for everybody.

Reach Mick LaSalle: mlasalle@sfchronicle.com