Best Liam Neeson Movies, Ranked: From Schindler's List to Taken
In short: Our top five Liam Neeson films: Schindler's List (his Oscar-nominated peak), Michael Collins, The Grey, Taken and The Naked Gun (2025). His career splits into a prestige-drama era in the 1990s, an action-star era after Taken in 2008, and lately a surprise turn to comedy.
Get movie picks based on this article
Want a great movie for tonight? Get picks matched to your mood.
Get movie picksPrefer to answer a few questions? Take the 8-question movie quiz →The ten best, ranked
1. Schindler's List (1993)
Steven Spielberg's Holocaust drama casts Neeson as Oskar Schindler, a war-profiteering Nazi Party member who ends up saving more than a thousand Jewish workers. He's charming, then gradually overwhelmed. Best Actor nomination; the film won seven Oscars, including Best Picture.
2. Michael Collins (1996)
Neil Jordan's biopic of the Irish revolutionary leader, a role that suits Neeson's physical presence and his own Northern Irish roots. He won the Volpi Cup for Best Actor at the Venice Film Festival.
3. The Grey (2012)
Joe Carnahan's survival film looks like a "Liam Neeson punches wolves" action movie but is really a meditation on grief and death, as oil workers stranded in Alaska are hunted by a pack. His best performance of the action era.
4. Taken (2008)
A retired CIA operative uses his "very particular set of skills" to find his kidnapped daughter in Paris. A modest French-made thriller that became a global hit and reinvented Neeson, then in his mid-fifties, as an action star.
5. The Naked Gun (2025)
Akiva Schaffer's reboot casts Neeson as Frank Drebin Jr., son of Leslie Nielsen's character, with Pamela Anderson. His total deadpan proved he's a natural comic actor, and it earned strong reviews.
6. Batman Begins (2005)
As Henri Ducard, Bruce Wayne's mentor, who turns out to be Ra's al Ghul, Neeson brings gravity to Christopher Nolan's reboot.
7. Kinsey (2004)
Bill Condon's biopic of sex researcher Alfred Kinsey. A thoughtful, funny lead performance that earned a Golden Globe nomination.
8. Love Actually (2003)
In Richard Curtis's ensemble, Neeson's grieving stepfather helping his son through a first crush is the film's sweetest storyline.
9. Darkman (1990)
Sam Raimi's comic-book horror, with Neeson as a scientist disfigured by gangsters who seeks revenge in masks. Strange, pulpy and his first big lead.
10. Star Wars: Episode I, The Phantom Menace (1999)
Whatever you think of the film, Neeson's calm, principled Jedi Qui-Gon Jinn is one of its best things.
Honourable mentions
- Rob Roy (1995): Scottish swashbuckler with a great sword duel against Tim Roth.
- Non-Stop (2014): the most fun of his Taken-era thrillers, set on a plane.
- A Monster Calls (2016): he voices the monster in a moving film about grief.
- Silence (2016): Martin Scorsese's drama about Jesuit priests in 17th-century Japan.
Our verdict
Watch Schindler's List for the actor, The Grey for the action era at its best, and The Naked Gun for the surprise.
Frequently asked questions
How many Taken movies are there? Three: Taken (2008), Taken 2 (2012) and Taken 3 (2014). The first is by far the best.
Is Liam Neeson in The Naked Gun? Yes. He plays Frank Drebin Jr. in The Naked Gun (2025), a reboot of the spoof series, with Pamela Anderson. It earned strong reviews.
Want a movie for tonight?
Our movie quiz can match one to your mood, with runtimes for each pick.