Run All Night

Starring: Liam Neeson, Ed Harris, Joel Kinnaman, Boyd Holbrook, Bruce McGill, Genesis Rodriguez, Vincent D'Onofrio, Common, Lois Smith, Beau Knapp, Nick Nolte (uncredited)
Directed by: Jaume Collet-Serra
Rating: R
Genre: Action, Drama
2015

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary:A hit man (Liam Neeson) is torn when his best friend and boss (Ed Harris) is determined to kill his estranged son (Joel Kinnaman).

Review:

Tim: Now, I give Liam Neeson a great deal of credit for his work ethic- the guy is churning out an incredible number of movies. I'm not sure anyone in Hollywood has worked harder than him the last several years. The rub is the fact that his movies have been hit-or-miss lately. He rarely ever makes a truly awful movie, but he's made several substandard films in recent years. Run All Night would fall into that category- the movie is okay, it has a few decent moments, but as a whole, feels too cliched and generic. I wanted to like this movie a lot more than I actually did.

The film got off on a weird note- when we first meet Neeson's character, he seems like a drunk loser. The early scenes go out of their way to show what a pathetic place he's fallen into. And then, through the events of the film, he suddenly becomes the Neeson we've seen in numerous films- the no-nonsense, ultra tough guy. I'm okay with either, but it just felt so disjointed here. It would have been one thing if the film really showed his transformation or awakening from his drunken stupor. I would have understood if the film was about this deadly man who had fallen on tough times, and to save his son, attempts to redeem himself. Maybe that's what the film was trying to portray, but the arc never really works for his character. It felt like they were trying to do something different early on, and then said, "Screw it, let's just give them the character they are expecting Neeson to play!" It was odd.

Neeson is fine throughout the film, but this is certainly not one of his better efforts. I wouldn't quite say he was phoning it in, but he seemed a little too comfortable playing the same variation of the same character for the dozenth time. Ed Harris is always a plus in a film and he makes a fairly compelling antagonist. I like how the story tried to make him more human and multidimensional. It made a difference. I really don't like Joel Kinnaman- he feels like the least charismatic actor I've seen in a very long time. I have no idea why anyone casts him. He adds nothing at all to this film. I would have preferred just about any other actor in his role. Bruce McGill and Vincent D'Onofrio are always great additions and I enjoyed their small supporting turns. It certainly felt like Nick Nolte had some scenes cut, as he contributes next to nothing. The cast as a whole was fine.

I do believe much of the blame for this films lies with director Jaume Collet-Serra. This is the third time he's directed Liam Neeson. You have the equally disappointing Unknown and the better-than-it-should-have-been Non-Stop. Collet-Serra just feels like a lackluster director. He does have some kind of cool scenes here where the camera travels from one part of the city to another. I say "kind of" because visually, they were interesting, but didn't really add a whole lot to the film. At one point, I actually wondered out loud, "Why do they keep doing that with the camera?" Was the point to show distance? Was it just a cool special effects trick? It certainly didn't improve the film much, so it was a bit bizarre. It feels like Collet-Serra never approached getting all he could out of the cast or the story. This is a movie that feels perfectly content being subpar, as long as enough people buy a ticket for Neeson. There was no sense of aspiring to be something more, and that was frustrating to me.

If you like Liam Neeson action movies, then this film is playing right into that preference. It just all feels a little too safe and little too by-the-numbers. There's some decent moments here and there, but as a whole, it's just far too generic. It doesn't do enough to differentiate itself from the massive amount of action films Neeson is making. No one will remember this film in a year, let alone four or five. You can certainly do worse, but there's not much here to get excited about.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 6



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: Non-Stop, Unknown, A Walk Among the Tombstones