Starring: Liam Neeson, Joel Kinnaman and Ed Harris
Directed by: Jaume Collet-Serra
Rated: R
Running time: 1 hour 54 mins
Warner Brothers
Our Score: 4 out of 5 stars
When we first meet Jimmy Conlon (Neeson) he’s flat on his back with a bullet in the side, trying to explain how he got that way. Though the story is a little long, it’s well worth learning.
Jimmy and Shawn Maguire (Harris, in another outstanding character role) have been friends for almost five decades. Doing what they needed to do to earn a living, they both found themselves on the wrong side of the road. However, while Shawn has become a very successful “businessman,” Jimmy likes to drink and play cat and mouse with a police detective (Vincent D’Onofrio), who is trying to pin no less than 17 murders on Jimmy. Both men have sons – Shawn’s boy, Danny (Boyd Holbrook) is a chip off the old block while Michael Conlon (Kinnaman) has distanced himself from his father, earning money as a limo driver while teaching inner-city youths how to box. When a deal Danny organizes, against his father’s wishes, goes bad, Michael inadvertently finds himself on the wrong side of things, causing him to reluctantly have to rely on his pop.
Gorgeously filmed (director Collet-Serra and cinematographer Martin Rhue give New York City its own starring role in the film) and strongly acted, “Run All Night” is another in a long line of “bad ass with a heart of gold” roles for Liam Neeson. Here he plays a tough Irishman who drinks, which I’m pretty sure wasn’t much of a stretch. And while he’s very good here, as he is in pretty much everything he does, I miss the romantic Neeson…the “Love, Actually” Neeson. Here he gets to mete out some fatherly advice while constantly making sure that Michael never fires a shot, afraid he will follow him down hell’s path. The best part of the films are when Neeson and Harris meet up and talk about their lives and their plans. Both men are mesmerizing on screen and they’re fun to watch. They know that their sons are suffering because of them and when they’re in the same room together, the tension grows so fast you may need to take a breath on occasion. The film does manage to run a little long, and an almost “forced” reminder of the New York Rangers hockey team take a little glow off of the film, but all in all, it’s a well recommended film!
