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| Warner Bros. |
Looking back at the
string of Liam Neeson action genre based films that have been prevalent over
the past half-decade or so, I can’t say that I have been all that trilled with
any of them (the ones I have seen anyway) since 2009’s Taken. In this time frame, two of these films came from director
Jaume Collet –Serra, as he teamed up with Neeson for Unknown and Non-Stop.
With Run All Night, we find the
director and actor together once again with results pleasantly different than
before. Collet-Serra and Neeson, along with the rest of the cast, easily turn Run All Night into something that has a
little more depth and substance than we are used to seeing from Neeson as of
late.
This time around, the
audience is introduced to Neeson as Jimmy Conlon, a former hit man for crime
boss and life-long friend Shaun Maguire (Ed Harris), but an alcoholic, estranged
father to his son and having to dress up as Santa Claus for a party Shaun is
throwing as a source of income. Not many hours after this, Jimmy’s son Mike
(Joel Kinnaman), a limo driver, and Shaun’s son Danny (Boyd Holbrook), a drug
dealer, cross paths when Danny attempts to kill Mike after he wittiness him
kill the men that were drove by Mike to Danny’s place because he owed money to
them.
So what stops Danny
from doing so? Neeson. Somehow, without any surprise though, Jimmy is at the
right place at the right time and just before Danny is able to shoot Mike,
Jimmy successfully does the same to Danny. Like any veteran killer would be, a cool,
calm and collected Jimmy goes as far as to immediately call Shaun and tell them
that he has just killed his son. This causes Shaun, and all the forces he has
at his disposal, to go on the hunt for both Jimmy and Mike, looking for nothing
less than the same thing Jimmy did to Danny.
From an action stand
point, Run All Night is not much
different than any other entry in Neeson’s recent action hero portfolio.
Although it is far from a ‘shoot ‘em up’ style of action, the gunshots go way
beyond countless, heavily occupying nearly every scene at some point and as it becomes
clear that there is more here than just testosterone and bullets, the way these
sequences are shot can cause for moments of frustration as awkward, camera
close-ups and editing that is far too often too quick to switch frames. To go
along with this, transitions from one scene to another or one part of New York
to another, along with being unneeded, are hindered from poor CGI.
Although it has more
going for it than the some of the editing, Brad Ingelsby’s script leaves some
to be desired as well. It is saved by it’s intentions ultimately shining through
and it’s dialogue is delivered but several decisions only cause for questions
rather than satisfaction. A lot of this questioning is directed toward the
purpose of certain characters. Common’s Mr. Price, a hitman hired by Shaun to kill
Jimmy and Mike, is an underdeveloped character, causing for his involvement to
always feel out of place and outside of getting half his face melted off, not
all that amusing. To go along with this, due to his lack of purpose, why Shaun
has a right hand man and even more pressing, why Bruce McGill is in the role
doesn’t make much sense.
Where the script fails it’s
audience the most though is it’s finale. Run
All Night’s plot revolves around Jimmy and Shaun’s past and present
relationship. So the climatic point of this arc should be the finale. Instead
it only acts as a pre finale to the final scene. The final moments of the film
feel a little farfetched but it is the final showdown between Jimmy and Shaun
that fails to cap off what has been established and built up to that point. The
lead up to this moment is solid, as it features somewhat meaningful encounters,
whether on the phone or face to face, between the two but is concluded with
just chasing each other and hiding behind trains while dodging bullets, lacking
any type of needed dialogue that wraps up Neeson’s character arc and how it
relates to Shaun.
Fortunately, these
flaws are not severe enough to over shadow the work of the cast and
Collet-Sierra. It is almost as if Collet-Sierra, realizing that the novelty of Neeson’s
latest trend of the same type of roles he takes on is wearing off, saw
something in Ingelby’s script and the character of Jimmy that would change
things up a bit. Opposite of the Neeson’s past characters, Jimmy starts on the
bottom and gradually grows stronger but not to the point that he is physically
superior to his opponent. Jimmy’s character arc is one of redemption and
attempting to make up for the past. And while there is plenty of fast pace moments,
Neeson allows this arc to shine though with a delivery that is never rushed,
giving it some weight and making it clear that he is beaten down by his
mistakes and the scenario at hand, while tragic for several reasons, is a
chance to make things better.
The rest of the cast,
Harris and Kinnaman in particular, play well off of Neeson, also allowing
things to develop naturally by never rushing things while buying in with their
non-verbal delivery. To go along with the films performances, Boyd Holbrook
turns in an entertaining performance even if only featured in the films set-up.
It can’t go without mention though that, while these performances move the film
along nicely and play a much larger role than Vincent D’Onofrio’s, it is his
subtle but attention grabbing approach as Detective Harding that will have you
wanting more of the character and D’Onofrio.
To call Run All Night an action flick would
never be accurate, so looking for the typical Neeson, high-flying, action first
type of movie, one is sure to be disappointed. This is a crime drama type of
event with plenty of bullets and all though there are a handful of intense
moments that could be considered action sequences, they are far from the films
finer aspects. But this doesn’t mean Run
All Night has nothing to offer, as it justify a viewing, maybe even a
second, with it’s successful, redemption themed recalibrating of the Neeson vehicle
that was starting to lose it’s allure
Grade:
B-
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