Liam Neeson arrived in the action genre with Taken eight years ago. Unfortunately while he hasn’t ascended those same heights since, Run All Night rubber stamps Neeson’s bona fides as an action star. Like Seagal, Van Damme and Statham before him, Neeson has so many films with so many similar titles and plots, that you can’t tell which one is which.
A generic title like Run All Night doesn’t help, the fact that the film shares a plot with John Wick is of no assistance also. Funnily enough though this is perhaps Neeson’ finest actioner since Taken, a fact that I will likely forget in two months while I wonder which one of Neeson’s film this is…
Neeson is Jimmy, a pathetic drunken shell of a formerly violent man. Jimmy drinks to forget the faces linked to his past misdeeds, many at the orders of his boss Shawn Maguire (Ed Harris), a man who in opting to go straight effectively ‘retires’ Jimmy, and enrages his ambitious hothead son Danny.
Jimmy alters both statuses in one unfortunate act. He is back again in the game, and Shawn is once again in the ordering bad guys around business.
Thanks to this one act, the two lifelong friends are now on different sides. This is bad for Jimmy, as Shawn’s side has dozens of paid goons, hired guns, corrupt cops and miscellaneous bad guys, while Jimmy’s just himself and his son Mike. And Mike hates Jimmy’s guts and has sworn an oath of non-violence.
Jimmy has one night to elude everyone who would do him harm – which is a great many people – and to do his best to save his son and family. Nothing bonds a family like running from certain death.
Run All Night shares a bleak tone with A Walk Among the Tombstones, but is leaner and more accessible. Also it isn’t as depressing. The film also benefits from better direction, with a few tricky moves, segues and action sequences that separate it from the ‘samey’ pack of modern day Neeson flicks.
Do we need another Run All Night though? No, it was probably taxing enough for the sixty-something Neeson to run through this evening, but does this film justify another couple more similar films over the next twelve to eighteen months? Probably. Whether we like it or not.
Final Rating – 7 / 10. Well it’s no Non-Stop Walk among the Tombstones.
