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A Walk Among the Tombstones poster

CAST
LIAM NEESON
ASTRO
MAURICE COMPTE
DAVID HARBOUR
BOYD HOLBROOK
SEBASTIAN ROCHE
DAN STEVENS
ADAM DAVID THOMPSON

BASED ON THE NOVEL BY
LAWRENCE BLOCK

SCREENPLAY BY
SCOTT FRANK

PRODUCED BY
TOBIN ARMBRUST
DANNY DEVITO
BRIAN OLIVER
MICHAEL SHAMBERG
STACEY SHER

DIRECTED BY
SCOTT FRANK

GENRE
CRIME
MYSTERY
THRILLER

RATED
AUS:MA
UK:15
USA:R

RUNNING TIME
114 MIN

 

A WALK AMONG THE TOMBSTONES (2014)

Although bogged down by too many plot points, A Walk Among the Tombstones works as a gritty crime thriller that features a refreshingly compelling Liam Neeson as a reluctant man of violence ensconced in a violent world.

It’s been too long since writer/director Scott Frank last film The Lookout, an undervalued modern noir that proved the revered screenwriter (Oscar nominated for Out of Sight) has chops as a director.

While A Walk Among the Tombstones doesn’t match The Lookout in terms of quality, it does establish Frank as a solid figure in masculine crime cinema. That he managed to conjure a potent performance from a recently coasting Liam Neeson says much about his abilities.

The film begins with Neeson as alcoholic cop Matt Scudder, who pulls a Dirty Harry and blasts away three armed men in the streets of New York City. Fast track eight years later to 1999 and a now sober Scudder works as a private investigator, drawn into a case involving the abduction and brutal murders of a drug dealer’s wife.

There is a heavy air in A Walk Among the Tombstones that immediately separates it from the usual “Liam Neeson kills everyone” fare which (unfortunately) is the Irish actors shtick these days.

While it is a violent film, the violence is something that’s dreaded. Neeson’s Scudder does not even carrying a gun, with his sobriety placing a leash on his itchy trigger finger while also keeping his thirst for the drink at bay.

The same can't be said of the films villains, a pair of sadistic killers whose violent dispatching of their victims is thankfully only shown in small doses, which is kudos to Frank since lesser directors would have no doubt gone the torture poem route.

Where Frank does become excessive is in his allowing of certain plot points that  - while no doubt flowed well within the novel by Lawrence Block - is too distracting in its film adaptation, with one side character too many (namely a homeless teen played by Astro) diverting from the films momentum & tone. Supposedly Frank cut out scenes featuring actress Ruth Wilson as Scudder's partner. He shouldn't have stopped there.

A Walk Among the Tombstones is at its best when Neeson (and Neeson alone) is working his case, prowling through the darkly lit NY streets with justice on his mind and the weight of past atrocities on his shoulders.

While Neeson is most popular these days as an action star, he is at his best as a brooding, dark force. A Walk Among the Tombstones features Neeson as such. Here's hoping he continues to choose more characters of the like, and lets slide the action silliness that has defined his career of late.

***
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