Director: Jaume Collet-Serra
Writer: Brad Ingelsby
Stars: Liam Neeson, Ed Harris, Joel Kinnaman | See full cast and crew »
Storyline
Professional Brooklyn hitman Jimmy Conlon is more commonly known as THE
GRAVEDIGGER. Jimmy was a mob hit-man, who was best friends with his boss
Sean Maguire. But when Jimmy's son, Michael, is marked for death by the
mob, Jimmy must go up against Sean to protect Michael at all costs.
Together, he and Michael must avoid corrupt cops, contract killers and
the mob to survive the night
Reviews
I
went to the cinema to see "Chappie", missed the showing, and ended up
seeing this instead. This is a surprisingly effective thriller, and
deserves to be making more waves than it is. Marketing it as a "Taken"
clone was a mistake. Within the first ten minutes I could tell that this
was a very different kind of movie indeed. It's closer in tone to the
raw, sombre "Out Of The Furnace", which I also saw at the cinema this
year, only Run All Night works much better. It admirably blends
grittier, more realistic elements - you really felt like you were in
cold, rainy, claustrophobic New York urban sprawl - with more stylish,
fun elements, with some top notch action scenes and memorable shootouts.
Jimmy Conlon (Liam Neeson) used to be a fearsome Mob hit-man, to the point where the papers called him Jimmy the Gravedigger. Now, he's an alcoholic, washed up joke, who probably would have disappeared off the face of the earth if it were not for the sympathy and friendship of his old boss Shawn Maguire (Ed Harris). When a dispute between their sons turns deadly, battle lines are suddenly drawn. Knowing he is outnumbered and outgunned, this becomes Jimmy's quest to see if he can take a few old demons down with him tonight.
Liam Neeson is very watchable as Jimmy Conlon. I was expecting him to recycle his character from Taken, but the two could not be more different. He makes Conlon believable as a man two steps away from the gutter. Equally, I was expecting Ed Harris to recycle his steely, distanced Mafioso character from "A History Of Violence" but instead he makes Maguire into a charismatic, effortlessly practiced and conceited Mob boss who can genuinely make you believe he is a family man running a legitimate business for the good of the community. And if a few bodies have to end up in cement, no big deal.
Believability is one thing this movie gets right all the way through. Everything that everybody does would feel ridiculous in the hands of less skilled filmmakers, but the script takes a step back to think about things like motivation and avoids plot holes. Action movie clichés are kept to a minimum and everything feels fresh and inventive. The shootout in the apartment block was done especially well - with the camera virtually backed into the drywall, you really felt like you were there, dodging bullets with the characters. It's worth taking a moment to reflect on how far films have changed and evolved since fare like "Cop Land" (1995), which was also a Mob thriller set in New Jersey.
I think I liked Run All Night because it so deftly handled it composition as something between a slick parkour-like action movie, angsty retribution movie, and revenge thriller. Never did I think that the production had let anything slide, or that the big names were phoning it in. The background details were terrific. Apartments felt like real scummy low rent places, not just Hollywood sets. Scenes in bars felt like you could touch the sticky, beery wooden tables. Bad guys didn't wear pastel suits and stylish goatees - they were sweaty brooders in cheap leather jackets, and they felt very intimidating and very very real.
The one minor thing that lets this movie down is the editing. Editing, for my money, is the toughest job in filmmaking. When you've done it right, nobody notices you've done anything at all. When you do it wrong, scenes can feel choppy and disjointed, like they were clearly different takes. Especially in the family scenes, I just wanted to grab the guy and say "slow down. We don't need six cuts here in three seconds."
In summary, Run All Night was an unexpected surprise and well worth a viewing. I will be following the career of director Jaume Collet-Serra, who I think has at least one truly great movie in him.
Jimmy Conlon (Liam Neeson) used to be a fearsome Mob hit-man, to the point where the papers called him Jimmy the Gravedigger. Now, he's an alcoholic, washed up joke, who probably would have disappeared off the face of the earth if it were not for the sympathy and friendship of his old boss Shawn Maguire (Ed Harris). When a dispute between their sons turns deadly, battle lines are suddenly drawn. Knowing he is outnumbered and outgunned, this becomes Jimmy's quest to see if he can take a few old demons down with him tonight.
Liam Neeson is very watchable as Jimmy Conlon. I was expecting him to recycle his character from Taken, but the two could not be more different. He makes Conlon believable as a man two steps away from the gutter. Equally, I was expecting Ed Harris to recycle his steely, distanced Mafioso character from "A History Of Violence" but instead he makes Maguire into a charismatic, effortlessly practiced and conceited Mob boss who can genuinely make you believe he is a family man running a legitimate business for the good of the community. And if a few bodies have to end up in cement, no big deal.
Believability is one thing this movie gets right all the way through. Everything that everybody does would feel ridiculous in the hands of less skilled filmmakers, but the script takes a step back to think about things like motivation and avoids plot holes. Action movie clichés are kept to a minimum and everything feels fresh and inventive. The shootout in the apartment block was done especially well - with the camera virtually backed into the drywall, you really felt like you were there, dodging bullets with the characters. It's worth taking a moment to reflect on how far films have changed and evolved since fare like "Cop Land" (1995), which was also a Mob thriller set in New Jersey.
I think I liked Run All Night because it so deftly handled it composition as something between a slick parkour-like action movie, angsty retribution movie, and revenge thriller. Never did I think that the production had let anything slide, or that the big names were phoning it in. The background details were terrific. Apartments felt like real scummy low rent places, not just Hollywood sets. Scenes in bars felt like you could touch the sticky, beery wooden tables. Bad guys didn't wear pastel suits and stylish goatees - they were sweaty brooders in cheap leather jackets, and they felt very intimidating and very very real.
The one minor thing that lets this movie down is the editing. Editing, for my money, is the toughest job in filmmaking. When you've done it right, nobody notices you've done anything at all. When you do it wrong, scenes can feel choppy and disjointed, like they were clearly different takes. Especially in the family scenes, I just wanted to grab the guy and say "slow down. We don't need six cuts here in three seconds."
In summary, Run All Night was an unexpected surprise and well worth a viewing. I will be following the career of director Jaume Collet-Serra, who I think has at least one truly great movie in him.
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