Run All Night
Directed by: Jaume Collet-Serra
Written by: Brad Ingelsby
Starring: Liam Neeson, Ed Harris, Joel Kinnaman, Boyd Holbrook, Bruce McGill, Genesis Rodriguez, Vincent D'Onofrio, Common, Holt McCallany, Nick Nolte
Action/Crime/Drama/Mystery/Thriller - 114 min Reviewed by Charlie Juhl on 11 Mar 2015
Written by: Brad Ingelsby
Starring: Liam Neeson, Ed Harris, Joel Kinnaman, Boyd Holbrook, Bruce McGill, Genesis Rodriguez, Vincent D'Onofrio, Common, Holt McCallany, Nick Nolte
Action/Crime/Drama/Mystery/Thriller - 114 min Reviewed by Charlie Juhl on 11 Mar 2015
It has already been over a month since the last Liam Neeson must reluctantly kill a bunch of people movie so thankfully, here is Run All Night to break the dry spell. This time around, nobody has taken his daughter, he’s not being framed for hijacking a passenger airliner, nor must he square off against a pack of hungry wolves. Now, he’s an alcoholic ex-Irish mob hit man who must dust off the firearms to protect his estranged son who is being framed for murder and being hunted by every gangster and cop in New York City – same old thing really. Neeson’s name may still draw folks to the movie theater to see him pull off stunts they have already seen him do a thousand times, but Run All Night is tired. There is nothing new here and in no time at all it will be confused and interchanged with Neeson’s other 293 man against the world action films.
Director Jaume Collet-Serra has found his cash cow and he is going to squeeze every single drop out of him. Working with Neeson (2014’s A Million Way to Die in the West) for the third time after Unknown and Non-Stop, Run All Night could have been plastered together out of cut scenes and edits from Neeson’s previous work. In Non-Stop, federal air marshal Liam Neeson was drinking himself to death due to painful memories of the past he couldn’t let go. In Run All Night, Liam Neeson is drinking himself to death because he cannot forget all of the painful memories from the past. The victims from his hit man days reappear causing insomnia, guilt, and an extreme haggard-looking appearance.
Director Jaume Collet-Serra has found his cash cow and he is going to squeeze every single drop out of him. Working with Neeson (2014’s A Million Way to Die in the West) for the third time after Unknown and Non-Stop, Run All Night could have been plastered together out of cut scenes and edits from Neeson’s previous work. In Non-Stop, federal air marshal Liam Neeson was drinking himself to death due to painful memories of the past he couldn’t let go. In Run All Night, Liam Neeson is drinking himself to death because he cannot forget all of the painful memories from the past. The victims from his hit man days reappear causing insomnia, guilt, and an extreme haggard-looking appearance.
Neeson’s middle-aged, past his prime hit man, Jimmy, is what happens to the rare gangster who lives to tell the tale and is not serving a life sentence. However, Jimmy has a rare opportunity fall into his lap, a chance at redemption. This is not a chance to redeem himself for his past sins; there will never be enough good will for that, but to help his son, Michael (Joel Kinnaman, 2014’s RoboCop). Michael and Jimmy haven’t spoken to one another in longer than either one of them can count. Jimmy poisoned that relationship one bullet at a time. Jimmy made a choice; he chose loyalty to his mob family over his actual family.
Michael witnesses a murder. Danny Maguire (Boyd Holbrook, 2014’s Gone Girl), the son of Irish mafia don Shawn Maguire (Ed Harris, 2013’s Gravity), guns down a couple of drug dealers and doesn’t want any wagging tongues. Jimmy must keep Michael alive long enough to protect him from the mob, but also protect him from the cops, most of whom are on the take from the bad guys. Michael is on the straight and narrow working two jobs to support his wife and kids. He grew up on the mob world periphery and is smart enough to know he wants nothing of that life, including Jimmy. Unfortunately for Michael, Jimmy is the only person on Earth who can possibly keep Michael alive. Jimmy has a unique set of skills see.
Jimmy and his boss, Shawn, go way back. They grew up together, fought in Vietnam together, and ran the streets of New York together. On screen, Collet-Serra seats Neeson and Ed Harris at a table just like Robert De Niro and Al Pacino from Heat as they tell each other in dead-pan, gravel voices what they are going to do to one another. Perhaps if you remember that particular superior film you will forget just how derivative and unnecessary Run All Night is as it plods along. Collet-Serra also discovered a new camera shot he likes, the Google Maps zoom transition. When it’s time to shift to a new location to check in on another set of characters, the camera elevates above the neighborhood and flies to the next locale just like it would in Google Earth street view mode. However, Collet-Serra did not cheat when it comes to locations. The elevated trains in Queens provide the audience with a specific sense of place, we zoom over to Madison Square Garden for a dash of Manhattan, and Brooklyn and a slice of upstate New York complete the ingredients.
More than fast-paced shoot-em-up action, Run All Night takes plenty of breaks to shove in a father/son relationship drama. Jimmy and Michael rehash their strained history and emotional problems while dodging munitions and hopscotching across balconies. Jimmy wants Michael to remain a peculiar sort of ‘pure’ so every time Michael has the opportunity to shoot a bad guy, Jimmy will yell, “Don’t do it Michael!” which gives the bad guys another 30 seconds to cause more havoc and mayhem. Way to hamstring yourself in a life and death fight.
Run All Night starts with a flashback. Almost immediately, most of the tension is wrung right out of the action scenes because we already know Jimmy is going to live at least until a particular scene. Watching him dispose of bad guys in tight quarters and sticky situations lacks all luster because we already know he gets through the fight. Run All Night is not Taken 4; Jimmy would get his clock cleaned by that specific vengeful father. However, nobody is going to remember this film. It is just a speed bump between much better Neeson action films. Wait for the next one to come along.
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