Wes's Grade: C+
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| Liam Neeson |
Some films emanate a retro vibe, and the new crime thriller "A Walk Among the Tombstones" is one of them. It channels those seedy 1970s cop dramas with Gene Hackman or Al Pacino and directed by Sidney Lumet. In spite of some compelling moments and a terrific lead actor, it's not as good as those films, easily becoming a standard, run-of-the-mill urban cop drama. Liam Neeson is Matt Scudder, an ex-NYPD cop who now works as an unlicensed private investigator operating just outside the law. Scudder reluctantly agrees to help a heroin trafficker (Dan Stevens) hunt down the men who kidnapped and then brutally murdered his wife, he learns its a part of a series of twisted crimes and works to stop it from happening again. Directed by Scott Franks, who wrote "Get Shorty" and "Out of Sight" and directed "The Lookout," the low-key, film noir-esque "A Walk Among the Tombstones" is a mildly enjoyable, character-driven drama that's muddled and slow-moving, made watchable by the always believable Neeson, turning in a solid performance in a rather dull movie. Based on the best-selling Lawrence Block novel of the same name, Neeson, in a role that's not as similar to the "Taken" films as you might think, is by far the best thing about the film, whose predictable plot, which involves drugs and torture porn, relies on too many cliches and contrivances to move the film along (a young sidekick, unreliable witnesses, etc.), especially in its draggy second act. Even with a stellar actor such as Neeson, you'll find yourself looking at your watch more than once, which makes "A Walk Among the Tombstones" a disappointment along the lines of "CSI" and "Law and Order," which have become standard fare for material like this (Blocker's novel was released in 1992, back when cop dramas like this were starting to turn dark). Not terrible and Neeson is always a treat, but it could've been better.
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