Run all Night ***½ (2015, Liam Neeson, Ed Harris, Joel Kinnaman, Boyd Holbrook) – Movie Review

Cast as long-time New York mobster pals, Liam Neeson and Ed Harris bring style, conviction and huge acting talent to an otherwise fairly average chase-movie action thriller. They might be slumming it, but what a difference real actors make in an action movie! At least these two real actors, that is.

The duo’s friendship busts apart the night Neeson’s hit man Jimmy Conlon is forced to shoot dead the son of his best friend, mob boss Shawn Maguire (Harris), the wayward kid Danny (Boyd Holbrook), to save the life of his own estranged son, Mike (Swedish actor Joel Kinnaman).

Neeson and a reluctant Kinnaman go on the run together to escape the cops (Vincent D’Onofrio as dogged Detective Harding), corrupt police, Harris’s mob men and a relentless contract killer hitman Harris has set on their trail, to see if Neeson can manage to save the life of Kinnaman and his family.

The movie starts in a bit of a confusing narrative muddle, but soon paces up to be exciting, speeding along urgently in its old-style B-movie thriller way, to a rather disappointing ending. Director Jaume Collet-Serra throws in stylised CGI moments to keep it all flashy and moving fast. Writer Brad Ingelsby (Out of the Furnace) can’t find a single new thing to add to the genre, but he turns over the old clichés pretty well, keeps his script plenty busy and relentless, and writes and develops real characters along the way. And that counts for a lot.

Some aspects of the movie are excellent, with the chases and action really well staged, but the best of it is all about the characters and the performances. And they are taken care of real, real well. On this form, there’s no sign of Nesson getting back to serious movies any time soon. He’s too valuable as a thinking person’s action hero.

Collet-Serra is known for Non-Stop (2014), Unknown (2011), Orphan (2009) and House of Wax (2005).

© Derek Winnert 2015 Movie Review

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