These days, when it’s a Liam Neeson movie, you can safely bet that there will be cars toppled, rounds fired, and bodies strewn. The only question is: how soon into the film? Thankfully, Run All Night takes its time before, well, Liam Neeson runs all night. In addition to fighting trigger-happy men who, as he says, “won’t rest before they make corpses of us”, he is also given the added responsibility of fighting his inner demons. So, there’s a lot of fighting here, but the time taken to establish characters means that you’re invested in them and care for their safety when it’s eventually threatened.
It’s almost like Taken 4 - or is it Taken 5 ? — we have lost count — for Liam Neeson, who plays Jimmy “the Gravedigger” Conlon. He, again, has the onerous task of protecting his child from the big bad world of gangsters, and even gets to sport the same fatigued look as he riddles gangsters with bullets. However, there is a better story here than in the Taken sequels and the layers in it go a long way in making the action scenes less cumbersome to behold. Jimmy is burdened with guilt, having committed more than a dozen murders. Detectives who are unhappy that he’s walking scot-free, pile on the guilt by sitting beside him at restaurants and asking how he’s able to live after wreaking havoc on so many families. Jimmy, as you can see, is no usual hero, if a case can be made for him being one at all. He has a damaged relationship with his son. His friendship with mob boss Shawn Maguire (the excellent Ed Harris) is also on tenterhooks. Meanwhile, the villain isn’t the kind who enjoys his killing; in fact, his actions are even relatable sometimes, and you can see that he knows his choices won’t make him happy but has to go ahead with them nevertheless. It is hard not to feel sorry for him.
Run All Night , as you can see, is not a fun action film, as the title may cause you to believe. It’s about being torn between friendship and family. It’s about a father redeeming himself in the eyes of his son. It’s utterly serious all the way. That’s why cinematographer Martin Ruhe’s shots of the camera flying from one end of the city to another seem a bit gimmicky. You can see that they would have been more at home in a Matthew Vaughn type of film.
It is a compliment to the writing and Ed Harris’ performance that the film works until the onset of a final act that goes on and on. The predictable climax and the easy villain take down don’t help matters. Where is the satisfaction in playing a game where you have cautiously, painstakingly taken down all henchmen, only to meet a boss who’s ridiculously fragile? “I’m coming at you with all I have,” the villain says in the film. But when Run All Night ends, you’re left asking, “Is that all you have?” And not just at the villain.
