Liam Neeson Says He's Done With Action Films at Age 72

Liam Neeson is hanging it up and retiring ... at least when it comes to action movies.

The "Taken" star revealed his plans to stop filming action flicks in 2025 in a new interview with PEOPLE ... explaining ... "I'm 72 -- it has to stop at some stage."

Liam's known for performing his own fight scenes -- though he does use a stunt double for bigger moments -- and he says it's just not believable that he would be fighting bad guys in his 70s.

Liam puts it this way ... "You can’t fool audiences." He also says he doesn't want his stunt double Mark Vanselow fighting his fight scenes for him.

Thing is ... Liam didn't even become an action hero until he starred in "Taken" way back in 2008 ... when he was already 56 years old.

But, Father Time is undefeated ... and it sounds like Liam's content with how his action career turned out.