originally written for Headstuff.org by Kid Netflix, as told to Giles Brody
A Walk Among The Tombstones stars Liam Neeson who has thrilled audiences the world over by kicking the shit out of a load of lads in the
Taken films. As a studious fan of Neeson’s work in
The A-Team,
Non-Stop, The Grey and
those three films only, I had a certain level of expectation for the
amount of murderlizing from the man the people of Ireland have
affectionately nicknamed “The Big Fella” and “Lanky Brando”.
The film starts with Neeson playing a drunk NYPD detective who shoots
up three lads who rudely interrupt his bourbon breakfast by robbing the
pub, killing them all in the process. The screen time : murder ratio
starts off strong. Unfortunately this is followed by ages where there’s
no murders at all. Then there’s bits where it seems like there’s going
to be a murder and then something else happens instead. Instead of
murdering some lads, finding an address on a scrap of paper, visiting
that address and murdering the lads that live there, the film is full of
Neeson chasing up clues. He doesn’t use a blowtorch or the blunt end of
a fire extinguisher, instead he uses charm and wit to uncover clues,
which is alright but could have used some kickboxing.
There’s a young fella he befriends who Neeson takes under his wing
but instead of teaching him how to be the best at killing he teaches him
about the basics of being a private eye and a bond is created
throughout the film which is nice but it eats into valuable killing
time.
So the plot involves some serial killers (finally!) abducting drug
dealers’ spouses for ransom and then killing them anyway in ways so
gruesome they don’t fully show it to you so you have to use your
imagination which turned out to be even worse because that place is like
a haunted funfair. An AA acquaintance (or AAAA) asks Neeson to help out
his brother whose wife has been taken by the mad lads. A critic at the
press screening I was at who kicked my chair whenever I checked my phone
said it was lovely to see Neeson back playing an everyman out of his
depth and not a killer robot with a Liam Neeson exterior.
Fuckface also bollocked on about how the themes of second chances and
redemption are prevalent throughout the film, and Neeson’s character’s
innate sense of empathy draws out affecting performances from his
co-stars. The film’s script by director and screenwriting legend Scott
Frank (Out Of Sight, Get Shorty, Minority Report) is lean with a slow,
considered pace – every exchange matters to furthering the plot but
Frank does this without skimping on the humanity of the characters. I
suppose in the end it’s all right but if it’s murders you’re after at
the hand of Liam Neeson you might have to wait until Expendables 4.
