Memory (2022) & 9 Other Must-Watch Liam Neeson Movies For New Fans

Liam Neeson had two new movies in 2022 including Memory, and here are the best movies that fans can watch to catch up on his incredible career.

Liam Neeson has found his place as one of the most bankable action heroes working in Hollywood today. Despite nearing 70 years of age, Neeson remains in good shape and is game for any sort of action movie, from political thrillers to revenge flicks. In 2022, he appeared in two movies in the genre - Blacklight and Memory.

However, Neeson's career has not always been about fast-paced action movies. He has done everything from original superhero movies to taking on a major role in the Star Wars universe. Neeson has a wide variety of movies that fans can seek out, and he even starred in one of the greatest war-time dramas in cinema history.

Darkman (1990)

While Neeson got his start in movies in 1978 with Pilgrim's Progress, he started to pick up bigger roles in mainstream movies in 1988. In 1990, Neeson enjoyed his breakout role in the Sam Raimi original superhero movie Darkman.

Neeson was the lead in the movie, a man named Peyton Westlake who is left for dead after an attack on a lab he is working in, his face destroyed in the process. He ends up turning into the antihero Darkman, and he sets out for vengeance. While Raimi received praise for his Spider-Man movies, his work with Neeson on Darkman remains a beloved cult classic.

Schindler's List (1993)

While Neeson remains best known for his action movies, he also appeared in one of the greatest war movies ever made. In 1993, Steven Spielberg released Schindler's List, with Neeson starring as Oskar Schindler, a man who hid more than a thousand Polish-Jewish refugees during World War II.

The movie was a massive success, nominated for 12 Oscars and winning seven of them. The movie won Best Picture and Best Director for Spielberg. While Neeson received a Best Actor nomination, he lost to Tom Hanks, who won his award for the movie Philadelphia.

Michael Collins (1996)

Three years after Schindler's List, Liam Neeson was back in another historical epic, this time in Michael Collins. The movie was based on the Irish revolutionary Michael Collins, who was a leading face in the battle for Irish independence.

The movie was a huge success in Ireland, the highest-grossing movie there at the time of its release. The movie also picked up two nominations at the Academy Awards, although Neeson once again was bypassed for a Best Actor nomination. To date, Neeson has never won an Oscar for his acting.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999)

By 1999, Liam Neeson had moved away from a career known for historical epics and started working on more box office-friendly releases. The biggest of them all came with the revival of the Star Wars franchise.

Neeson starred as Qui-Gon Jinn, the Jedi who trained Obi-Wan Kenobi in Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace. Neeson was only around for one movie, sadly, but his role made him one of the most important characters in Star Wars history, his lineage going straight to Luke Skywalker and beyond.

Batman Begins (2005)

In 2005, Liam Neeson was back in a superhero movie, and this time he was the villain. In Batman Begins, Christopher Nolan rebooted the Batman franchise with Christian Bale as the Caped Crusader. For the villain role, Nolan went with Ra's Al Ghul, the man who helped train Batman only to become his greatest enemy.

Neeson was Al Ghul, and just like his role in the Star Wars franchise, it was one movie appearance that tied the whole trilogy together. In The Dark Knight Rises, it was Al Ghul's daughter who was the villain, so he once again shepherded the future with his one iconic appearance.

Taken (2008)

In 2008, Neeson's movie career took a huge left turn. He had worked in historical epics and Hollywood blockbusters. However, at the age of 56, Neeson became an unexpected action movie star. He became the butt-kicking dad who set out to save his daughter from sex traffickers in Taken.

What no one could have expected was that this movie would move Neeson into the most successful era of his career, as he is still playing similar roles almost 15 years later. Taken even got two sequels that saw him protecting his family by killing as many bad guys as possible.

The Grey (2012)

For almost his entire action movie career, Neeson has played men fighting bad guys, whether criminals or corrupt government officials. However, in 2012, he took on a role in a very different action movie. In The Grey, Neeson fought wolves.

Joe Carnahan directed this movie, where Neeson played one member of a group stranded in Alaska after a plane crash who have to survive both the freezing cold temperatures and a pack of Grey Wolves. The Grey ended up on several top 10 lists for the year.

A Monster Calls (2016)

Liam Neeson has developed a voice that is synonymous with integrity and honor and he brought it to a voice-over role for a CGI/live-action hybrid in 2016. The movie was A Monster Calls and Neeson voiced a tree-like creature.

While he appeared to be the monster of the title, this was a movie about cancer, and Neeson's creature was there to help a child work through his feelings when his mother sends him to live with his grandmother while she goes through treatment. Neeson also portrayed the character in motion capture.

Men In Black: International (2019)

In 2019, Neeson returned to a major blockbuster, this time taking a role in the fourth Men in Black movie, Men in Black: International. In the movie, Neeson took on the role of High T, the former partner of Chris Hemsworth's Agent H.

Tessa Thompson also co-starred with her Thor: Ragnarok co-star as Agent M as the two try to find a way to stop an imminent hostile alien invasion. This was one of the rare instances in recent memory where Neeson's character was not a good man.

Memory (2022)

Earlier in 2022, Neeson starred in Blacklight, a movie where Neeson played a man working for an FBI black-ops organization whose job was to save agents who stepped over the line. However, he soon learned his boss was undertaking illegal operations. In Memory, he is once again a man who finds himself against his own organization.

In this case, he is an assassin who is experiencing Alzheimer's disease and isn't sure who is good and who is bad as he leaves a trail of bodies in his wake.

NEXT: Liam Neeson's 10 Best Movies, Ranked According To Letterboxd