Liam Neeson is retiring from action movies... again

Watch: Liam Neeson planning action movie retirement

Just about every time Liam Neeson makes an action movie, he says it’s the last one.

The 68-year-old star has built a second act of his career on appearing in films like Taken and his numerous collaborations with Jaume Collet-Serra — including Non-Stop and The Commuter — but he says that act is drawing to a close.

Neeson’s new thriller The Marksman — in which he plays a former Marine protecting a boy from cartel assassins — is his second actioner in just a few months, after autumn 2020 release Honest Thief.

Read more: Neeson was convinced Taken would fail

He told ET that, as he nears his 70th birthday, he’ll be hanging up his pistol sooner rather than later.

“There's a couple more I'm going to do this year — hopefully, COVID allowing us — there's a couple in the pipeline and, then I think that will probably be it,” he said. “Well, unless I'm on a Zimmer frame or something.”

Despite his understandable concerns about mobility, Neeson said he still loves doing action movies and particularly relishes “beating up guys half my age”.

He noted that he had a particularly sobering experience while filming upcoming movie Blacklight in Australia.

Read more: Neeson is proud of The Phantom Menace

“I had a fight scene with a kid — lovely, sweet actor called Taylor — and halfway through the fight I looked up.

“I was breathless and it didn't cost him a cent, and I said: 'Taylor, what age are you?' He said, '25.' I said: 'That's the age of my eldest son!'"

He might still have a few action movies in the pipeline, but Neeson is thus far standing firm on his pledge last year to avoid superhero films and productions with lots of green screen.

“I’m really not a huge fan of the genre,” he said in February. “I think it’s Hollywood with all the bells and whistles and the technical achievements and stuff — which I admire.

“But I have no desire to go into the gym for three hours every day to pump myself up to squeeze into a Velcro suit with a cape.”

The Marksman is out in US cinemas now, with its UK release currently due on 26 February.

Watch: Liam Neeson in action in Honest Thief