Liam Neeson is back yet again with another action film. Some will claim this is another Taken film, and maybe he is cashing in big time on his success from that franchise, but the story in this film is much deeper overall than the recent Taken films, and the acting is absolutely amazing. With some great acting and a good story overall, Liam Neeson and the legendary Ed Harris deliver a must see film for any movie fan. The following is my review of Run All Night.
Run All Night was written by writer Brad Ingelsby who is very well known for his fabulous work on the 2013 film Out of the Furnace. I actually did not know that going into the film, after seeing he did write the film, I'm not surprised the characters were so greatly written. The story follows Mobster Shawn Maguire(Ed Harris) and his longtime friend and hit man Jimmy Conlon(Liam Neeson). These two have been friends for a great many years, even decades. Now that they are older and have children, things aren't exactly the same, more so for Jimmy. While Shawn is still very much close to his son Danny(Boyd Holbrook), Jimmy hasn't spoken to his son Mike(Joel Kinnaman) in several years. One night Mike has a big job as a limo driver, but the people he is driving around get into some dirt that makes Mike and Jimmy enemies with Shawn. Shawn promises to hunt Mike and Shawn down and kill them, and their family members because of the death of his son. The story is very rich in characters, and you actually care about them. While the film is nearly two hours, you honestly aren't looking at your watch at all. The film flows by perfectly because of the amazing writing by Brad Ingelsby. Overall, Ingelsby does another fabulous job of writing in this film, and his efforts on this film should not be overlooked.
The film was directed by Jaume Collet-Serra who is no stranger to working with Liam Neeson on action films. He previously worked with Neeson on Unknown and last years Non-Stop. The action in this film is not exactly a great deal, but easily much more than last years Non-Stop. There are some fabulous hand to hand combat action scenes, and even one heck on a chase scene. Though the chase scene can be convoluted because of some shaky cam work. Collett-Serra delivers this nice way of changing location in the film from scene to scene by zooming out of the current scene and showing a high rise city view, then slowly zooming in on the new location. While this clever way of changing might have been slightly overused, it was used perfectly and if something different. The acting was really another great aspect of the film, and when you have two legends like Ed Harris and Liam Neeson on the screen together, of course great things will happen. Neeson and Harris really play great off of each other, and you really believe the story as it plays out. The film also features great acting from Joel Kinnaman, Vincent D'Onofrio, and even Common fits in nicely with his small but important role in the film. With mostly great action and absolutely fabulous acting, Collett-Serra and Neeson have easily delivered another epic action film that will live on for many years to come.
The film was composed by composer Junkie XL who is well known for working with legendary composer Hans Zimmer. He recently scored films such as Divergent and 300: Rise of an Empire, and will be scoring next years Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. The score XL delivers is nothing great nor something I would claim is memorable, but his work here easily adds some much needed depth in the bigger action scenes. There are some interesting things he does throughout the film, and this is easily a score I will be going back to listen to over and over for the next few weeks to see if it grows on me even more. Junkie XL doesn't deliver the greatest score to an action film, but the score is still very much top notch.
In closing, this is a very enjoyable film, which is certainly worth the price of admission. I personally spent almost ten dollars on this film and still feel I got my money's worth and then some. The replay value seems to be high with not only the great visuals from the directing angle, but also from the great performances from the actors. Fans of films in general should put this film on on your list to watch, certainly a must see film.
8/10
