Sins of the Father

Run All Night

Liam Neeson has always been a popular actor. Neeson’s earlier performances are nothing to shy away from. Films like Schindler’s List, Rob Roy, and Michael Collins are just a taste of Neeson’s brilliance. Though a few years ago, Neeson’s career took an unexpected turn when a few gangsters decided to stupidly kidnap his daughter in 2008’s Taken. From that point on Neeson has been looked upon as a bonafide action star. Since then Neeson has given the world a few more high-octane action thrillers including two Taken sequels. This year Neeson has added to this part of his resume with the gritty Run All Night.

Jimmy Conlon (Neeson) is an alcoholic ex-hitman who seems to have pushed everyone he cares for away. All except his boss and oldest friend, Shawn Maguire (Ed Harris Pollack), who is always sympathetic to the ever loyal Conlon. However, that all changes in an instant when Conlon and Maguire’s  sons become violently connected by unfortunate circumstances. Danny Maguire (Boyd Holbrook Gone Girl) has gotten involved in a heroin deal with Albanians that his father doesn’t approve of. Now to avoid repaying the money the Albanians gave to Danny up front, Danny decides to just murder the Albanians. What Danny doesn’t expect is the Albanians’ limo driver witness, Mike Conlon (Joel Kinnaman Child 44). Escaping the flurry of gunshots, Mike makes it back to his house to find his father Conlon waiting for him on orders from Maguire expecting Mike to just keep his mouth shut about the murders. However, Danny has other plans and tries to eliminate the witness and just winds up with a bullet to the neck from Conlon. Instinctually protecting his son, Conlon has now set a path for him and his son to start running from one of the most powerful men in New York City.

I am going to admit that I have very mixed feelings about this film. On the one hand it is a very good homage to the 1970s action films like Dirty Harry or Mean Streets. The film also does a great job throwing in a little bit of Taxi Driver-like essence with its panoramic shots of the streets of New York. The gunfights and action scenes were done really well and could have easily been taken from any one of those classic 70s actioners. My problem, however, is the flat and overdone characters. Along with the mimicked tone of those early action films, so are the characters. These characters and story type have been done and done again. The drunken father that lives with the sins of his past, the son that hates him, the mob boss turn ‘legitimate’, and the boss’ son who is so far off reservation he has no become a liability. As much as I respect each one of these main actors, they were all cookie-cutter characters.

Now director Jaume Collet-Serra (Non-Stop) did a great job capturing everything that made those 70s films great. Using a gritty tone and muddled colors, Collet-Serra takes the audience back to the darker side of New York City. Collet-Serra’s pacing of the film is noteworthy as well. Run All Night never slows down and weaves in and out of action scenes fast enough so that we don’t really have to be bogged down with the boring characters.

Fans of Liam Neeson will enjoy this film and fans of classic action films should also give this a try. However, don’t expect Neeson and Harris’ Oscar worthy performances in Run All Night.

The Verdict: Check Out on Blu-Ray