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| Ed Harris and Liam Neeson |
Wes's Grade: D
Bloody and unoriginal, Neeson is at it again in the stale crime drama "Run All Night"
In 2008, Liam Neeson took the cinematic world by storm with his "special skill set" in the hit thriller "Taken," and since then he's become the go-to guy for the aged-good guy/bad-guy-in-peril crime stories. Bloody and overlong, Neeson and company pepper the seedy action thriller "Run All Night" with some entertaining moments, but this unoriginal crime drama can't overcome its cliches and stale script. This time out, Neeson is Jimmy Conlon, a mob hit-man and his estranged son Michael (Joel Kinnaman) as they flee the wrath of his employer, a vengeful crime boss Shawn (Ed Harris) after Jimmy kills Shawn's corrupt son Danny (Boyd Holbrook). Written by Brad Ingelsby and directed by "Unknown" and "Non Stop" director Jaume Collet-Serra, Neeson seems to be sleepwalking through "Run All Night," a banal, hardly subtle and needlessly violent crime drama that pulls few punches and offers few surprises. The talented cast is badly directed, some of whom are wasted with minimal screen time, including the terrific Harris in a remarkably small role, who shares all of three scenes with Neeson (including the one pictured above), giving them little chemistry; instead the bland Kinnaman, seen as "Robocop" last year, is given more screen time with Neeson, a mistake since Kinnaman and Neeson have zero chemistry and Kinnaman is the weakest of actors. Rapper and recent Oscar-winner Common infuses some much-needed energy and fun as a squirrelly professional killer who won't go away, but arrives too late in the film (the last act) and his role largely nonessential; you may be surprised to see the always gruff Nick Nolte cameo as Neeson's dad, but you won't be surprised he looks like hell. Filled with the usual dirty cops, a lakeside cabin, loads of bullets and two cute small girls, as well as tons of cardboard characters and a messy, incoherent story, "Run All Night" is something you've seen many times, likely a variation of these roles that Neeson has played in the last few years. After the awful "Taken 3," it's another disappointment (I wanted to see more Neeson-Harris fracas, instead they mostly just shoot at each other) and one of Neeson's weakest action movies; even with an obvious take-the-money-and-run turn from an aging action hero, you rarely want to bet against him in a dogfight. I wouldn't want to mess with any of Neeson's onscreen characters, and maybe it's just best to run away from "Run All Night" too.
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