Run All Night - directed by Jaume Collet-Serra
Starring: Liam Neeson, Ed Harris, Joel Kinnaman, Boyd Holbrook, Common, Vincent D'Onofrio, Bruce McGill, Genesis Rodriguez, Holt McCallany
Running Time: 114 minutes
Rated: R16 - Brutal gun and knife violence, profanity & some coke snorting
Liam Neeson has starred in more than fifteen movies since 2008.
That doesn't include TV and voice work in things like "The Lego Movie" and two Nanria films.
That is more than two a year and a fair chunk of them have been action-thriller types of films in which he plays variant of the same character.
He is either the highly skilled morally upstanding guy (the "Taken" films, the last two "Dark Knight" movies) or the highly skilled deeply flawed type ("A Walk Among the Tombstones", "Non-Stop", "The Grey")
As much as I am a fan of Neeson I have to admit that squarely half of the films in that seven year period are pretty average and some of them are downright bad.
With "Run All Night" he plays the deeply flawed variant - a hitman with an alcohol problem and a son who doesn't want him anyway near his life and young family.
"Run All Night" most closely resembles Neeson's recent film "A Walk Among the Tombstones".
Set in New York mostly at night it is aiming for grim and gritty and hits the mark even when it introduces flashy shots.
There is a pretty slick zoom in/out technique used to move from one part of the city to another where the shot pulls back smoothly and quickly.
Clearly some CGI has been employed in the creation of these shots and they do seem somewhat out of place in a film that is generally grounded in realism and very restrained in its shooting and editing.
On the whole I really liked the shooting style- it serves the action very well and everything that is going on is very clear.
It is ridiculous that this needs to be highlighted for praise but for me so many movies these days seem obsessed with how many cuts and how many effects they can cram in they forget that the whole point of an action scene if to excite the viewer and if we can't tell what is going on that is unlikely to happen.
In the case of "Run All Night" the action is a nice smorgasbord of pretty much everything you could want in an action thriller.
There is a very nice car chase, several good shootouts, some hand to hand brutality, an up close and personal knifing and more.
It's all very well done and the R16 rating is milked close to bursting point.
Cast wise this is a strong movie.
Obviously the star is Neeson and he is as good as he always is.
As the alcoholic Jimmy he does a good job portraying a man who gets a whiff of redemption when his son is involved in a drug deal gone wrong murder.
Neeson is such a presence that he needs a good cast around him and the supporting cast is equally strong with the excellent Ed Harris stealing scene after scene as Shawn Maguire- a criminal gone straight but finding himself pulled back to the old ways amidst a personal tragedy.
Harris takes the acting honours and makes Shawn a far more interesting and surprisingly even somewhat sympathetic character than he might have been had a lesser actor taken the role.
Joel Kinnaman (recently in the Robocop reboot) is good as Neesons son Mike and Boyd Holbrook who also starred in "A Walk Among the Tombstones" provides a suitably unlikeable Danny.
It is his death that sets off the events that require Jimmy and Michael to run all night.
One suspects that the makers really wanted to call this "The Sins of the Fathers" and it would fit better but in terms of describing the film both are accurate.
Basically this is the story of two fathers - one is trying to save his son, the other trying to avenge his son.
At the midway point there is a concern that it hasn't got anywhere to go but the introduction of an additional character played by Common rejuvenates it nicely.
There is only really one negative thing to be said about "Run All Night" apart from those odd zoom transitions and the pretty average title.
It tends to be a little predictable.
By starting off in the here and now and then immediately zipping back 16 hours to fill in the blanks the film is robbed of too many surprises.
(The terrible pre-release trailer didn't help with its revealing of several characters fates)
Anyone who has seen a few movies in the genre will be able to pick where the finale will be and who will be involved.
Ultimately though it is not a big deal and the execution and the performances carry it through.
Bruce McGill, Vincent D'Onofrio and Holt McCallany are underused and some of stylistic choices are odd (those transitions, some out of place slo-mo and the almost comic booky end credits) but there is no denying that this is a well put together flick.
After the utterly awful "Taken 3" and the disappointment of "A Walk Among the Tombstones" this is a nice return to form for Neeson.
RATING: 82 / 100
CONCLUSION: Well shot and acted with a hefty quota of action and tension. Very solid stuff that goes a way towards making up for the average "A Walk Among the Tombstones" and the abysmal "Taken 3".
Running Time: 114 minutes
Rated: R16 - Brutal gun and knife violence, profanity & some coke snorting
Liam Neeson has starred in more than fifteen movies since 2008.
That doesn't include TV and voice work in things like "The Lego Movie" and two Nanria films.
That is more than two a year and a fair chunk of them have been action-thriller types of films in which he plays variant of the same character.
He is either the highly skilled morally upstanding guy (the "Taken" films, the last two "Dark Knight" movies) or the highly skilled deeply flawed type ("A Walk Among the Tombstones", "Non-Stop", "The Grey")
As much as I am a fan of Neeson I have to admit that squarely half of the films in that seven year period are pretty average and some of them are downright bad.
With "Run All Night" he plays the deeply flawed variant - a hitman with an alcohol problem and a son who doesn't want him anyway near his life and young family.
"Run All Night" most closely resembles Neeson's recent film "A Walk Among the Tombstones".
Set in New York mostly at night it is aiming for grim and gritty and hits the mark even when it introduces flashy shots.
There is a pretty slick zoom in/out technique used to move from one part of the city to another where the shot pulls back smoothly and quickly.
Clearly some CGI has been employed in the creation of these shots and they do seem somewhat out of place in a film that is generally grounded in realism and very restrained in its shooting and editing.
On the whole I really liked the shooting style- it serves the action very well and everything that is going on is very clear.
It is ridiculous that this needs to be highlighted for praise but for me so many movies these days seem obsessed with how many cuts and how many effects they can cram in they forget that the whole point of an action scene if to excite the viewer and if we can't tell what is going on that is unlikely to happen.
In the case of "Run All Night" the action is a nice smorgasbord of pretty much everything you could want in an action thriller.
There is a very nice car chase, several good shootouts, some hand to hand brutality, an up close and personal knifing and more.
It's all very well done and the R16 rating is milked close to bursting point.
 |
| If you like movies in which Liam Neeson points guns at people..... you are in luck |
Obviously the star is Neeson and he is as good as he always is.
As the alcoholic Jimmy he does a good job portraying a man who gets a whiff of redemption when his son is involved in a drug deal gone wrong murder.
Neeson is such a presence that he needs a good cast around him and the supporting cast is equally strong with the excellent Ed Harris stealing scene after scene as Shawn Maguire- a criminal gone straight but finding himself pulled back to the old ways amidst a personal tragedy.
Harris takes the acting honours and makes Shawn a far more interesting and surprisingly even somewhat sympathetic character than he might have been had a lesser actor taken the role.
Joel Kinnaman (recently in the Robocop reboot) is good as Neesons son Mike and Boyd Holbrook who also starred in "A Walk Among the Tombstones" provides a suitably unlikeable Danny.
It is his death that sets off the events that require Jimmy and Michael to run all night.
One suspects that the makers really wanted to call this "The Sins of the Fathers" and it would fit better but in terms of describing the film both are accurate.
Basically this is the story of two fathers - one is trying to save his son, the other trying to avenge his son.
At the midway point there is a concern that it hasn't got anywhere to go but the introduction of an additional character played by Common rejuvenates it nicely.
 |
| The supporting cast is excellent - (L-R)... Genesis Rodriguez, Joel Kinnaman, Ed Harris & Common |
It tends to be a little predictable.
By starting off in the here and now and then immediately zipping back 16 hours to fill in the blanks the film is robbed of too many surprises.
(The terrible pre-release trailer didn't help with its revealing of several characters fates)
Anyone who has seen a few movies in the genre will be able to pick where the finale will be and who will be involved.
Ultimately though it is not a big deal and the execution and the performances carry it through.
Bruce McGill, Vincent D'Onofrio and Holt McCallany are underused and some of stylistic choices are odd (those transitions, some out of place slo-mo and the almost comic booky end credits) but there is no denying that this is a well put together flick.
After the utterly awful "Taken 3" and the disappointment of "A Walk Among the Tombstones" this is a nice return to form for Neeson.
I think this is in some ways just how action movies, especially the ones that aren't special effects driven fantasies, work.
ReplyDeleteDid you see this one Thomas? Like it or not?
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