Netflix has just added a new thriller with an Irish cast so starry it’s been likened to the country’s equivalent of the Avengers movies.
It also heralds the welcome big screen return for an iconic Game of Thrones villain, who shunned the spotlight after leaving the hit show back in 2014.
Directed by Robert Lorenz, In the Land of Saints and Sinners – which premiered at the Venice Film Festival last September – was added to Netflix on Friday.
Boasting a cast led by Hollywood superstar Liam Neeson, asked again to lead a revenge-focused film as he does so well in franchises such a Taken, he’s joined by Irish Oscar nominees Kerry Condon (The Banshees of Inisherin) and Ciarán Hinds (Belfast) , as well as Irish onscreen veteran Colm Meaney, who has appeared in everything from Die Hard 2 and Con Air to Layer Cake, Get Him to the Greek and The Damned United.
The cast also includes actress Sarah Greene, who’s appeared in Sharon Horgan’s TV show Bad Sisters and Normal People, and Jack Gleeson.
Gleeson, 31, famously retired from acting a decade ago after his scene-stealing turn as Joffrey Baratheon in Game of Thrones, with his evil character killed with poison.
He revealed that acting full-time had made him less ‘passionate’ about the job and stepped back to play independent theatre roles, shunning the spotlight, before later appearing in the BBC miniseries Out of Her Mind.
However, he started his major comeback at the end of last year with the initial release of In the Land of Saints and Sinners, alongside his appearances in Netflix hit show Sex Education and as Thomas Wentworth in the BBC’s new adaptation of The Famous Five, Enid Blyton’s classic children’s books.
Chatting to media last year at the IFTAs, star Meaney responded to In the Land of Saints and Sinners being dubbed ‘an Irish Avengers’.
‘Very good script. It’s got Liam [Neeson], it’s got Kerry Condon – my favourite woman in the world – Ciarán Hinds…, he told Irish publication JOE, with a smile.
‘It’s a great cast and a great script, so yeah, fingers crossed. High hopes for it.’
In the Land of the Saints and Sinners has an impressive 82% critic rating on review site Rotten Tomatoes, with Empire magazine praising it as ‘a solid, old-fashioned Irish Western about what it means to hang up your rifle’.
The Financial Times’ Danny Leigh also compared Neeson to one of the most iconic Hollywood hardmen of all time, writing: ‘Neeson is as sturdy as ever in a role Clint Eastwood might have played 20 years ago and a few thousand miles away.’
As the film dropped on the streaming platform, other fans also praised the ‘stacked cast’, as Jen Johans admitted: ‘One of the biggest surprises was discovering just how staggeringly great Kerry Condon is as a ferocious villain.’
‘Just finished watching the new Liam Neeson film on Netflix, In the Land of Saints and Sinners. Very good and stunning scenery in Donegal,’ added James Fahey.
‘A Netflix-produced IRA thriller starring Liam Neeson as an assassin coming out of retirement for one last job?’ added another excited fan, Elvis Buñuelo.
In the Land of Saints and Sinners is set in Ireland in 1974, and follows Finbar Murphy (Neeson, who is also set to front the Naked Gun reboot), who leads a quiet life in the remote coastal town of Glencolmcille, far from the political violence that grips the rest of the country.
He’s eager to leave his dark past behind, but when a menacing crew of terrorists arrive, led by a ruthless woman named Doirean (Condon), Finbar is drawn into an increasingly vicious game of cat and mouse, forcing him to choose between exposing his secret identity or defending his friends and neighbours.
In the Land of Saints and Sinners is streaming now on Netflix.
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