Run All Night Review

I haven't been to the movies in a while. There have been a few films released recently that I wanted to go see, but I never really got around to them. Nothing like another Liam Neeson action thriller to get my butt back into a theater seat. That's right, they're after his family again and we all know what he's going to do about it. And you know what - that's not a bad thing.

This is Neeson's third collaboration with director Jaume Collet-Serra, and the pair seem to just keep getting better. I wasn't a huge fan of Unknown, although Neeson made it completely watchable. I very much enjoyed last year's Non-Stop, which felt like the perfect summer movie trapped in a February release.

And now we get to Run All Night, which is Collet-Serra's most mature project to date. It got an R rating, which really aided the film's gritty tone. It felt like one of those classic crime dramas from the '80s and '90s. It hearkens back to those while still feeling wholly modern. It's an amalgamation of Taken's straightforward action approach and Collateral's vibrant nighttime vibe. And it's a must-see for Liam Neeson fans and action junkies.

Neeson is as compelling a leading man as you'll find. His role in Run All Night is more layered than the usual action hero. In fact, he's not an action hero at all in this movie. If anything, he's an anti-hero, a flawed and complex character that actually feels like a real person. I was pleasantly surprised by that. Joel Kinnaman plays Neeson's son. Everything I've ever seen of Kinnaman has told me that he's totally functional in his roles, but he's never actually stood out to me. That's pretty much true for his work in this film as well. He did absolutely fine, but he paled in comparison to the presence of Liam Neeson and the next guy I'm going to talk about.

That guy is of course Ed Harris. He's a stellar actor in the same vein as Run All Night's lead, and he completely holds his own opposite him. Harris and Neeson have instant chemistry, and some of the scenes they had together were reminiscent of scenes between Al Pacino and Robert De Niro in Heat, another Michael Mann film. I probably would have liked to have seen a little more of him, but the movie is about Neeson and his son at its most fundamental level, so I can see why they chose not to focus on Harris.

The action is handled very nicely by Collet-Serra, who injects his fights and chases with raw tenacity and a certain authenticity that's missing from a lot of modern action films. It's a huge improvement over Neeson's previous 2015 actioner Taken 3, which handled its action sequences with an unsteady hand, and as a result retained very little entertainment value from them. There are a handful of scenes in Run All Night that had me gripping the arm of my seat, such as a chase sequence through an apartment building and a suspenseful shootout at a cabin in the woods.

In addition to the action elements, Run All Night has a surprising emotional core which left me genuinely affected by how the film ends. Its predictable, for sure, but thanks to a well-written script and the performances of the cast, you grow to care about the characters. That's one of the things I loved about this movie.

As for flaws, Run All Night is not devoid of them. It's certainly slow out of the gate with a lot of exposition and character setup. Once Neeson and his son are on the run, however, it picks up. I also found that most of the side characters were pretty one-dimensional, which took away from the effect of them being in peril. Common - the musician-turned-actor - plays an assassin in the film. He was pretty awesome in the scenes that he was in; however, his character seems to disappear towards the middle of the movie, which I found rather disappointing. I definitely wanted to see more of him.

All in all, this was a solid movie with a lot of good things going for it. It's the type of old-school action thriller that I want to see more of. If you're in the mood for a fun and exciting time at the movies, this is an excellent choice. It has a surprising amount of heart backing it up as well. It's not a life-changing or genre-shattering film. But it's a very well executed one. I hope Liam Neeson and Jaume Collet-Serra keep them coming just like this.

B+