Review: Run All Night

Liam Neeson plays a drunken, largely retired hitman forced to protect his estranged limo driver son (Joel Kinnaman) from his former boss and long-time friend Ed Harris, when Kinnaman witnesses Harris’ douchebag son Hoyt Holbrook commit a double homicide. Harris (now considered a legitimate businessman) gives Neeson a call to see if he can diffuse the situation, but when Holbrook ends up dead, he is forced to take Kinnaman on the run as Harris promptly puts an end to their long-standing friendship/employ and targets both Neeson and Kinnaman for assassination. Holbrook may be a sack of shit (he was trying to organise a drug-smuggling deal without daddy’s consent), but he’s family. Meanwhile, Vincent D’Onofrio plays an honest but disgruntled police detective with a long-standing hatred for both Neeson and Harris. Common plays an assassin for Harris, Bruce McGill is Harris’ right-hand man, Lois Smith is Neeson’s ill mother, and Genesis Rodriguez is Kinnaman’s wife, pregnant with their third child. Nick Nolte has an uncredited cameo as Neeson’s estranged brother.

 

Yet another Liam Neeson movie where he’s in brooding action/thriller mode, this 2015 film comes from director Jaume Collet-Sera (“Orphan”, and two solid Liam Neeson thrillers “Unknown” and “Non-Stop”) and screenwriter Brad Ingelsby (co-writer of the uneven “Out of the Furnace”). It’s basically an urban update of John Sturges’ underrated western “Last Train From Gun Hill”, where Kirk Douglas clashes with old friend Anthony Quinn, over the latter’s dipshit son killing his Native American wife. However, while the former ended up somewhat of a siege-based/revenge film, Collet-Serra and Ingelsby turn the basic idea into more of a chase film. They also divert from the earlier film (and it’s not an official remake anyway, you could also cite “Road to Perdition” as an influence) by having Neeson’s son go on the run after Ed Harris’ wayward son tries to kill him.

 

It’s a solid film, but it is never quite as claustrophobically tense as it should be, with everyone pretty much blocking Neeson and son from getting out of the city. You never quite get the real-time tension you’d expect for a film that has that title and covers a 16 hour period in New York City. It’s still a very watchable film, and what it does have in its favour is weight and sorrow in its characters. It works better on that front than as an urban action movie, actually. It really is a tragic story, when you get right down to it, though there’s few things more enjoyable than seeing Liam Neeson blow away bad guys as The Pogues’ ‘Fairytale of New York’ plays on a jukebox. Fuck yeah!

 

Although lens flares and filters continue to be the bane of my existence, it’s a pretty slick-looking film as shot by Martin Ruhe (“Control”). The camerawork is pretty lively and the action is well-shot without much shaking going on. The rain-soaked streets are particularly beautifully lit I must say. What’s with the fake-arse lightning, though? Why do something like that? So silly-looking. The cast is pretty damn terrific here, particularly the two old pros Neeson and Harris. Neeson is first seen as a Bad Irish Santa, which is probably more amusing than it was meant to be, but there’s no doubt that he is believably troubled. I wish he’d lighten the hell up, but the fact is, he’s good at these sorts of roles. Ed Harris is equally terrific, even if I reckon Ray Winstone would’ve been even better casting. It’s a nicely shaded bad guy performance from Harris (He knows his son is a dipshit, but it’s still his son), but boy is he not one to be messed with. Of the actors playing the two sons, Hoyt Holbrook makes the biggest impression with the least amount of screen time. He’s a truly punchable dipshit of the highest order. Kinnaman certainly makes more of an impression here than he did in the “RoboCop” remake. Hippity hop guy Common makes for interesting casting as a supposedly efficient, ice-cold hitman, a sort of John C. McGinley circa 1994/Michael Ironside kind of role. An unbilled Nick Nolte apparently had most of his scenes cut, and has seemingly finished his transformation into a grizzly bear. No, I won’t stop telling that joke, it’s hilarious. I understand the cutting down of his role for pacing reasons, but it’s still a shame because he’s an interesting presence on screen.

 

Expertly acted, this fathers-and-sons film works best as a kind of Greek tragedy, though some of the action is also effective. I wish there was more claustrophobic tension to it, but it’s still pretty good and both Neeson and Harris are in fine form. I’d still recommend seeing “Last Train From Gun Hill” first and foremost, though, as that one still reigns supreme.

 

Rating: B-