johnlink ranks RUN ALL NIGHT (2015)
I’ve said this many, many times over the years on this page, but it still holds true: Give me Liam Neeson in an action/suspense film and I am there with little to no questions asked.
I watched RUN ALL NIGHT (2015) on 1.21.16. It was my first viewing of the film.
Jimmy Conlon (Liam Neeson) is a semi-retired hitman in New York City who’s boss, Shawn Maguire (Ed Harris) has long stopped breaking fingers and long since started franchising Applebees. The stench of that life is still around. But while Shawn is good at pretending it never happened, Jimmy lives with the deaths of his victims on his conscience.
Each man has a grown son. Mike Conlon (Joel Kinsman) knows his Dad’s history and refuses to see him or introduce him to his wife or kids. Danny Maguire (Boyd Holbrook), on the other hand, wants nothing more than to reclaim his father’s glory days and be a mob boss.
Fate brings the sons together in a violent way, and soon Mike is forced to go on the run with his Dad. The entire city is after them. Shawn and Jimmy, life long friends, both become convinced that either one or both must die that night as their sudden feud erupts. Shawn hires a younger hitman (Common) to go after his former friend while the police, led by Detective John Harding (Vincent D’Onofrio) are also out in full force.
This is a suspenseful and entertaining movie. It has many moments of violence, a few fewer moments of comedy, and some surprisingly strong acting. While Ed Harris and Liam Neeson aren’t given literary gold to work with, both are such strong veteran actors that their scenes together make us wonder why we haven’t had the chance to see them work opposite each other more. Harris gets to play the villain with a moral compass, Neeson gets to play his standard violent man with a questionable past, and all is good in the world.
The other actors are solid too. Kinnaman gives a solid turn as the son trying to not be like his Dad. Nick Nolte gets one solid scene. Vincent D’Onofrio makes the most out of his couple of scenes. Common is intense and believable as the sort of hitman that comes straight out of the BOURNE series.
This is one worth seeing. While some of Neeson’s non-TAKEN stuff has been largely forgettable (though always entertaining) RUN ALL NIGHT has a little more heft to hold it up. More dialogue (even if it isn’t top notch dialogue) and slightly less action actually makes for a more satisfying movie overall. This is like HEAT light or ROAD TO PERDITION with Irish guys in modern day New York City. And while this is not a great film like those two, it is good enough to warrant being seen.
SCORES
FILM: 6; MOVIE: 8; ACTING: 7; WRITING: 5
6+8+7+5+0=26
FINAL SCORE: 6.5 out of 10
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