Review: Neeson and other actors of a certain age 'Run All Night' one last time
“Run All Night” is a first-person-shooter thriller for the Grecian Formula generation.
Old men — cops and mobsters — sit in bars, drink their Scotch on the rocks and talk about the “old neighborhood,” their long history and the blood they've spilled. And then they spill some more — stabbings, beatings that end in strangulation and shootings. Lots and lots of shootings.
It makes a fine vehicle for those weather-worn beauties — Liam Neeson, as an alcoholic retired hit man, and Ed Harris as his friend, his boss, his brother-in-arms.
Sean (Harris) looks after Jimmy (Neeson). Back in the day, Jimmy's nickname was “Jimmy the Gravedigger.” He solved problems for Sean. They've shared secrets and history, and a body count. Their afterlife fates are sealed, and joined.
But Sean's hothead son (Boyd Holbrook) makes a deadly mistake, and Jimmy's estranged limo driver son, Michael (Joel Kinnaman) witnesses it. Jimmy kills Sean's kid to protect his own, and it's game on. Over one night, Jimmy tries to keep his tough, mob-hating son alive, and Sean sends his minions out to get them both.
Neeson is very much in his latter-career comfort zone with this brutal, brooding thriller. This is his third film with director Jaume Collet-Serra (“Unknown,” “Non-Stop”), and it's a stylish series of set-pieces that are like a series of heavyweight bouts. Throw in some well-worn New York locations, a visceral car chase and you've got something above your standard Neeson thriller.
The script is loaded with cliches. Common shows up as one: the hit-man hired to hit a hit man. But he's as menacing as the rest of this stellar cast.
There are plenty of pleasures in watching these old pros — Harris and Neeson, Vincent D'Onofrio, Nick Nolte and Bruce McGill — playing old men of the mob wars trying to summon a young man's bravado.
“Run All Night” doesn't re-imagine a worn-out genre so much as drop a quart of Marvel Mystery Oil into the crankcase of that vintage V-8 for one last ride through the mean streets.
Roger Moore reviews movies for Tribune News Service.
