For more than 20 years, Mark Vanselow’s job was to make sure nobody noticed him. He has doubled Liam Neeson across at least as many movies, starting with an uncredited role in the 2000 film Gun Shy and running through the Taken pictures, the Ice Road films, The Commuter and Cold Pursuit. On The Mongoose, he steps in front of the credit block for the first time as director.
The film casts Neeson as Ryan “Fang” Flanagan, a military veteran who inadvertently steals an expensive, high-tech car and triggers a high-speed, cross-country chase. Cops and helicopters swarm him, along with a very angry Michael Chiklis as a Texas lawman with an axe to grind. Fang runs for the southern border while the pursuit turns into national news and a wave of supporters starts helping him outsmart the police. Samuel Goldwyn Films frames it as a war hero accused of a crime he didn’t commit, aided by his brothers in arms and a public rooting for his getaway.
Vanselow describes the move to the director’s chair as a normal progression rather than a leap. “In the stunt world you kind of move up the ladder to stunt coordinating and then second unit directing, where you’re directing a lot of the action,” he told Polygon. “I’ve worked with some amazing directors throughout my career. So it was like a constant university every day.” Producers Bart Rosenblatt and Al Corley backed the promotion, and so did the star. “Liam was behind it 100%,” Vanselow says.
The action follows the method the two men have built together over the years, with an emphasis on close-quarters fighting the actor can perform himself. “We’re always trying to create action that he can do as much as possible,” Vanselow says. “Obviously, there’s time constraints and issues of ability and safety, but Liam really endeavors to do as much as he possibly can, particularly when we’re talking about the fight action.” The difference this time was distance: “In the past, we’ve created stuff that he and I do together. This time, I stepped aside and let some other people do it.” Chris Weir served as stunt coordinator.
The stolen vehicle carries a built-in AI assistant and, per the director, plenty of narrative weight. “The car is a character in the movie, and it represents a lot of different things,” Vanselow says. Under the burning rubber sits a story about how America treats its veterans, with Fang still carrying his own trauma and other ex-soldiers going out of their way to shield him. “It’s an action movie, but there’s a lot of depth to it,” he says. “It’s not just a shiny car racing around the corner.”
The essentials:
- Director: Mark Vanselow, from a screenplay by Thompson Evans
- Cast: Liam Neeson as Ryan “Fang” Flanagan, Marisa Tomei as Tara, Ving Rhames as Tanker, Michael Chiklis as Pope, Maurice Marvel Meredith as Tilton
- Runtime: 96 minutes, distributed by Samuel Goldwyn Films
- Shot in: Victoria, Australia, including Melbourne
- In theaters: October 30, 2026
