Night Run

Liam Neeson plays retired hit-man, James Conlon, and it's one of the finest roles he's played in years with a great performance, and with additional superb acting from Joel Kinnaman, whom plays his son, Mike Conlon. The first 'Taken' may have turned out great, until it launched a franchise, but 'Run All Night' is a definite improvement over Neeson's latest work, and a major improvement over clichéd action movies released in the past decade. What makes it so good, is that Neeson brings company with him: his co-star Kinnaman who plays his son - and it's a different movie experience altogether as in most clichéd action thrillers the main protagonist, usually played by a familiar action star, is usually without company the whole way through. The character James Conlon is so similar to Jimmy Bobo, a part Sylvester Stallone played in a movie called 'Bullet to the Head'. Jimmy Bobo was an ageing hit-man who still made hits on assignments, but compared to Conlon, he's more emotionless and merciless. Neeson's Conlon still had good in his heart somewhere, whereas Bobo cared more about killing and seeking vengeance. However, the action sequences are enjoyable and thrilling, acting is great and the direction and screen writing becomes intriguing whenever the main plot kicks in - so Run All Night has what it takes of being one of the most exciting movies of the year!

Action movie with plenty of suspense, thrills, intrigue, twists and turns. The action of this frenetic thriller about the Brooklyn Irish mafia and the courage of family takes place during just one night in New York. An elderly Brooklyn mob hitman, Jimmy Conlon (Liam Neeson), doesn't seem to find solace except in whiskey. Jimmy is more commonly known as the 'Gravedigger'. Jimmy feels haunted by the sins of his past and also harassed by the police detective (Vincent D'Onofrio) who has been after him for 30 years. But when his honest son, Mike Conlon (Joel Kinnaman) becomes the target of his boss (Ed Harris) and friend, Jimmy has to choose between the criminal family he had chosen to belong and his real family, which he abandoned long ago. No sin goes unpunished !. One night to settle the score !.

This stirring film contains suspense, thrills , noisy action, shootouts , violent fights and plot twists. From start to final the frantic action and fast-movement are unstopped. Liam Neeson gives a top-notch acting as a man tired of life and regretful of his dark past who would stop at nothing to defend his only son and his family. The third collaboration between the Spanish director Jaume Collet-Serra and the actor Liam Neeson after ¨Unknown¨ (2011) and ¨Non-stop¨ (2014) and before filming together in 2018 ¨The commuter¨. The film is once again an action film without measure, full of shots, chases, tension and a script that gives no respite or rest.

Along with Liam Neeson, other veteran and renowned actors such as Ed Harris or Vincent D'Onofrio and young people such as the Swedish Joel Kinnaman and the rapper Common share the spotlight. Adding other secondaries in brief acting, such as: Nick Nolte, Genesis Rodriguez, Boyd Holbrook, Holt McCallany, Beau Knapp, Patricia Kalember Lois Smith and Bruce McGill.

It displays a dark and night photography by cameraman Tom Holkenborg. The musician Martin Ruhe composes a tense and moving soundtrack fitting to frenetic action . Lavishly produced, including spectacular scenes, by various producers as Roy Lee, John Powers Middleton, Ray Quinlan and Jaume Collet-Serra himself. This exciting flick was compellingly directed by Jaume Collet-Serra. Collet is an expert director/producer of terror movies as ¨Orphan¨, ¨House of wax¨ and for TV , ¨The river¨, as well as specialist in thrillers , most of them starred by Liam Neeson, such as: "Unknown" , "Run all night" , "Non-stop" , "The Commuter" , ¨Retribution¨. Rating : 7.5/10, well worth seeing. Better than average. The picture will appeal to Liam Neeson fans and explosive action enthusiasts .

There's no airplane, train, international terrorists, or snow plows, but this Liam Neeson crime-thriller is one of great quality because of the actors involved. I mean please, Neeson vs Ed Harris? Two of my favorite actors of all time, there's no question I was going to enjoy this one. But it really is the dynamic between those two that makes the movie as good as it is. Without the weight of the history between them in this story, you don't get the same impact in the 3rd act when certain things go down. I could have actually used more backstory and flashbacks then we got. There's plenty of homages and inspirations that director Jaume Collet-Serra puts in here, like Mystic River or Heat, which are two of the greatest crime films of all time. I wouldn't say Run All Night gets to that level, but it's nonetheless a thrilling 120 minute ride. And you know, that ending was pretty sweet too.

7.3/10

Fluently put together and entertaining enough for it not to be forgotten as easily as it could have been, yet it falls short in achieving both what it could have and what it promises to, that being a remarkable and unique action thriller.

All of the problems "Run All Night" has seem to tie in together and make just one big problem: it simply does not use its potential and it does not use it exactly because of the problems it has. Firstly it does not use its well defined characters to its advantage and ultimately even fails to stick to some. Moreover way to many times the film descends into ultra-generic territory: I was watching the film, entertained and time and time again what it seemed to be leading up to wasn't as interesting as I wanted it to be, it was a situation I had seen times and times again and I was repeatedly left asking myself "so that was all?". The director also hints at a very original eye for visuals, just as the whole movie hints at a better, more intriguing and surprising film, but ultimately both fail to the delver what they promised. The visual style and editing style had some brief brilliant moments, but for the majority falls into, again, ultra-generic and fast-cut distracting action scene. Way too many times I wondered why hadn't the director shot a scene in another way which could have made it incredibly and vastly more fascinating to watch.

That is not to say that there are many redeemable qualities. First and foremost there is genuine tension mostly because of the well rounded characters for whom I had a surprisingly positive emotional connection and didn't realize so until the end. Helping this is a fantastic cast that delivers the majority of the goods. Neeson is obviously charismatic, he isn't phoning it in, he is giving a heartfelt performance that definitely delivered. Ed Harris is in my opinion one of the best actors of history possibly and this is further proof that he simply can do no wrong, he has a presence on screen that is very hard to match. Even Kinnaman, whom I have been a critic of, is delivering a good enough performance. Lastly, the story doesn't ever realize its potential as I said, but it still makes for a very riveting premise that kept me hooked until the end, despite an overlong duration.

I had a good share of fun and excitement, but I was disappointed to see such a good opportunity ending up being another average film.

Liam neeson plays Jimmy Conlon, an aging and borderline alcoholic mob hitman who is forced to protect his son from his former boss Shawn Maguire played by the always excellent Ed Harris. It's a satisfying blend of character drama and gritty, violent action. One of the things i really liked was nothing was overly spectacular and silly which gives the movie a more gritty and realistic feel. The action is quick, brutal and not glamorized and the dialogue feels like things real people would say during regular conversation as well, it gets annoying in movies sometimes when characters are spouting one liners like clowns.

Liam Neeson is solid as always and believable as a hard man who is passed his prime but will kill to protect his son even though he knows there's no way it's going to end happy for himself. He's either going to die or spend the rest of his life in prison but he doesn't care as long as his boy is safe. When he lays a guy out flat with one punch with a broken nose and missing teeth you know his character is more than capable of doing it. The story isn't really anything you haven't seen before but it's a well made movie with good performances and the action scenes are filmed in a simple no frills style with no annoying shakey cam. Definitely a good time for fans of Neeson, Ed Harris and tough action thrillers.