If you ever want to sell a film and want it to be mildly successful, all you need to do is cast Liam Neeson, give him a gun, a killer’s instinct and you’ll have no problem getting people to see it. One man that knows that is director Jaume Collet-Serra, director of the latest Neeploitation film Run All Night, and helmer of previous Neeson actioners Non-Stop and Unknown.
In Run All Night, Neeson plays a bumbling drunk and mobster hit man named Jimmy Conlon whose only friend is mob boss Shawn Maguire (Ed Harris). His son Mike (Joel Kinnaman) hates him and they haven’t spoken in five years, but when Mike witnesses Shawn’s son, Danny (Boyd Holbrook), kill someone, Danny comes after him. Willing to do anything to protect his son, Jimmy is forced to kill Danny in order to protect the one thing he still holds dear in this world. Regardless of Jimmy’s justification for killing Danny, Shawn orders his entire crew to track down and kill Mike before the sun rises, but in order to survive he’s going to have to listen to the one man he hates, his father Jimmy, should he ever want to see his wife and child again.
As far as Liam Neeson action flicks go, Run All Night was a good time and probably 100 times better than Taken 3 was, for those that actually saw Taken 3. Unlike many of his recent actioners, Neeson’s character isn’t really a likable one. Funny, yes, but his history isn’t something to commend and it’s clear to see why he’s estranged from his son. We come to respect his character and the suffering he’s enduring, but what we do appreciate as an audience is the way he still values his family and is willing to give his life to protect his own.
What I really appreciated about the film is that it takes its time to build the story up and establish its characters and their mindsets before getting into the heart of the action. One of the most pivotal points of the story is establishing the relationship between Shawn and Jimmy, how loyal they are to each other and how no matter how close they are, the death of their children can shatter that bond. Establishing the lack of relationship between Jimmy and his son is also the other crucial part and not allowing Mike to be so forgiving is important to keeping the story and realistic aspects of the film intact. From there the stellar action sequences take over but so does the inclusion of unnecessarily sappy scenes.
As far as the acting goes, the entire cast was solid except for exaggerated dialogue by Joel Kinnaman. For some reason, nearly every time Joel spoke it felt like he was forcing a NY accent or forcing his hatred of this father. It didn’t sound believable to me so I found he was better when he wasn’t speaking.
Now, I don’t know whose idea this was, but having Common play an assassin was great, but having him channel a hi-tech combination of Brother Mouzone from The Wire and Gustavo Fring from Breaking Bad was genius. I’m not going to say in what ways, but you’ll know when you see it and if you understand it, a smile will come across your face.
In addition to my distaste of Kinnaman’s delivery, I did think the movie was a little too long. There were two or three scenes included in the film that could have easily been cut. One was a scene involving Mike’s wife and another was the unnecessary ending scene that turned a very appropriate ending into a stereotypical Hollywood ending, giving a bad-ass movie a stupid, sappy ending that wasn’t warranted.
This weekend sees the release of quite a diverse set of films, but if you’re one of those looking for some hard hitting action with an actual story, one full of moral dilemmas and “what would you do?” moments, Run All Night is the film you’re looking for. It’s intense, it’s engaging, and it hits all the right notes when it comes to delivering on Liam Neeson’s late career, action oriented talents.
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