'Taken' star realistic on gun views

Liam Neeson in Taken 3.

Actor Liam Neeson admits it's somewhat contradictory that he's a vocal critic of the United States' gun culture but continues playing gun-toting action heroes in Hollywood films.

However, the 62-year-old says he's drawn a line in his head that allows him to star in thrillers like Taken 3, which is released in New Zealand cinemas tomorrow.

Neeson is philosophical when asked about critics who have suggested such films romanticise gun culture.

"I could agree with that but, in my own head, I've drawn a line because I think it's kind of cartoon violence, these sorts of movies," the veteran actor said in London.

The Irish-born US citizen believes movie-goers can differentiate between reality and what they see on screen.

"I think audiences now are really quite sophisticated," he said.

Neeson is pro-gun control and acknowledges playing ex-covert operative Bryan Mills in the Taken franchise is "absolutely contradictory" and he could be rightly "chastised".

He's a proud American citizen who sadly notes that the US has about 318 million people and almost as many guns.

"I'm getting so sick of opening the pages of the newspaper now in America and it seems to be every month someone goes crazy in a school or a college and kids are killed," the actor told reporters while promoting Taken 3. "It's like we are almost getting immune to it - they have to change the rules but the gun lobby is so powerful."

The father of two appears even more worried about the influence of the internet on the young.

"I'm very wary of technology because I think the web is - as genius as it is - it's the new frontier," he said. "And [this] new frontier is very, very loosely guarded.

"You can punch any button and extreme porn comes up at you, shocking images, not just sexual images but violence images, like real, daily violent images.

"We have to be protected."