A lot has been made of Liam Neeson’s shift into action hero roles so late in his career, and the results have been patchy to say the least. However, I think there is an easy way to decide whether his latest effort is worth a watch. If it is directed by Jaume Collet-Serra, see it, anyone else and you probably don’t need to bother! After they successfully paired for Unknown and Non-Stop, I was expecting good things for Run All Night.
Neeson plays Jimmy Conlon, a washed-up, alcoholic, former hit man who used to work for his close friend and mob boss, Shawn Maguire (Ed Harris). After a drug deal goes badly wrong, Maguire’s son is dead and Conlon’s son is in serious danger. Conlon has to go up against Maguire and his men in order to keep him and his son alive. So, as the plot suggests, there is nothing ground breaking on offer here.
The storyline is pretty predictable and the script is peppered with clichés. However, whilst it is the weakest of their three movies together, it’s still a well-paced, fun, action thriller. There is one very good car chase and some excellently staged fight scenes. Neeson can pretty much do this stuff in his sleep these days, but his is still a commanding presence and great to watch. The supporting cast is better than you might expect to, with Vincent D’Onofrio, Bruce McGill and a blink and you’ll miss it cameo from Nick Nolte, as well as Harris.
I’d like to think that Neeson has some more films left in this genre before he is done. However, the disappointing box office returns for Run All Night, at least partially caused in the U.S by the actor’s very public anti-gun comments, may mean that we are coming to an end of this cycle of films that started with Taken back in 2008.
Rating: 6 out of 10