La preda perfetta

Liam Neeson, astute gentleman, legendary Jedi, and assassin who can hunt anyone down who takes his family. Yet Hollywood seems to focus on the latter, not deviating from the stoic man who can rip armies of murderers asunder and come out swinging. This weekend, yet another story is told about our leading action actor, entitled A Walk Among The Tombstones. Seeing the trailers earlier this summer, I got chills at the darkness and mystery the tale promised. If you know me by now though, there is always the skepticism of being let down by the actual film. What does this movie have in store? Read on to uncover the details.

We know that Liam Neeson can act the part of the sullen, rogue agent who defies all the rules and limits other cops seem to have. Once again, he is back still able to bring the smolder filled face of justice to the dark underbelly of whatever setting he's in. This film though goes one stop further down the dark hole, having Neeson dive into the darker pits of his soul to face the internal and external demons. He pulls it off flawlessly, almost as if he faces the very challenges in real life. Helping to support Mr. Neeson, is a variety of people, though we will only focus on a few others to spare room for other aspects. Providing comedic relief, and an outlet from his character's darkness is Astro, who has had a growth spurt since Echo. Astro has got a mouth, and thinks he is tough kid who knows the way of the world, yet gets a lesson about just how little he knows. He's funny, he's cocky, and Astro pulls off the immature role to the letter. Yet it's the two killers of Ray (David Harbour) and Albert (Adam David Thompson) who really mix well with Liam. Harbour's ability to play the insane serial killer is quite well executed in his delivery of threats and the tone of his voice. As for Thompson, he captures the menacing glare down pat, and knows some stage combat, but aside from that not much in store.

I'm sure you're saying though, I don't really care about the acting. How is the story? Well in a one word summary it is dark. It is also one of the more disturbing plots I've seen, that didn't cross into the soul destroying area. A Walk Among the Tombstones brings tension to the audience throughout the entire film in the hunting of the two disturbed beings. The hunt is in the form of heavy detective work involving talking to suspects, retracing footsteps and trying to piece information together. For once, the mystery has a bit of realism to it, forgoing the convenient pieces of information, for a process that involves actually working for clues. As the movie progresses, the ambiguous nature and seemingly simple motive starts to reveal itself. With each new clue, the mentality of the perpetrators becomes clearer, almost like one is watching an episode of Criminal Minds. Yet the unstable psyche and constant calls of the psychos continue to reestablish the terror of what will happen next. Sure, you have a good idea of what the outcomes will be, but there is just enough uncertainty to have you doubting your thoughts.

Mixed into the bag is some character development amongst the various players in the game, each with their own set of dark secrets that explains why they are scarred for life. Some of these points are relevant, but the mistake here is that they are played over and over again as they build up to the revelation, one of which you already know from the trailers. Other plot elements though are not so relevant or as big as they thought. Some hasty connections were an attempt to add another layer of depth to the story, but I felt the audience could have done without them. Still it gives the cast a little more depth, and provides some emotional depth to an otherwise monotone cast. Perhaps the strongest element of the character development though is the inspiration they have. Albeit a little cheesy in the presentation, there is a good message to those who may have a similar history as Neeson's character. The emphasis of facing your demons instead of running from them is a lesson many could use a refresher course in. Yet the message is drawn out, much like the background, and sometimes adds unneeded length to the movie.

As for the suspense of the movie, as mentioned I before it is the psychotic mindset of the killers that keeps you in suspense. The only problem with this though is that, with the exception of the last part of the movie, the damage has already been done. Unfortunately for the cast, many of the crimes have already been committed, which dulls the intensity of their acts and makes the film a little boring at first. On the opposite side of spectrum, is that some of the actions are a little too well done, especially at times of torture. As stoic as I am against the usual antics, this movie crossed the line a couple of times to really disturb me. Thus, if you are one who gets REALLY AFFECTED BY SCENES OF SUFFERING should turn a blind eye to this film, or at least until they become a little tolerant.

A Walk Among the Tombstones is a nice crime/drama to bide your time with. Those looking for a little pre-Halloween terror will get your fill with this movie, though in truth there are not a lot of technological aspects that make it theater worthy. Still if you are Liam Neeson fan, jump into this crime drama and be ready for a calmer film than his legendary Taken film. My scores for this film are:

Action/Crime/Mystery: 7.0 Movie Overall: 7.0

... is that, long before Neeson became Hollywood's most late-blooming action hero, he was an actor.

A-C-T-O-R

And a pretty good one at that.

And that is what makes this film a lot better than the other reviews would have you believe.

Yes, I confess, a guilty pleasure, I loved TAKEN. But movies like TAKEN are a crapshoot, a gamble, a party trick where you are constantly trying to find something new and different to resonate with the audience, to make up for the fact that there is little substance to the project. (As was proved by TAKEN 2, one of the worst movies I have ever seen, with some of the most glaring editing mistakes).

Here we go old school. Written by one of the best writers of the last century and directed by Scott Frank, a man who certainly knows how to frame a scene for mood and impact. (At the half way point, a girl in a red hood crosses the street in front of the villains. The scene should not have memorable, but Frank makes it so).

An "old school" classic. Three quarters of a century ago, even Bogey would have taken this part. And been the better for it.

Young "Astro" who plays the ghetto-smart TJ steals all his scenes and, for those with a good ear, even channels the speech patterns of Will Smith, from any movie Smith ever appeared in. This kid has a future.

i just need to say that the guy who handled the cinematography for this picture is a genius and deserves some recognition even though i know for a fact he is not gonna win an Oscar for his work in this movie because simply it's not the kind of movies that gets the academy awards.

as my review for the rest of the movie i thought it was good from the point of view of a guy who misses the old days of the 70's to the 90's because honestly it's became an event to watch a realistic movie these years it's either a superhero movie or some kind of an adaptation to a teen favorite bestseller. i know i personally had great expectations for it especially when i saw the trailer but it fell short of my very high expectations (i expected something like those Korean brilliant thrillers like The Chaser 2009 or I Saw the Devil 2010) however it still doesn't disappoint and it delivers some very good and realistic action scenes with practical effects for a change. god i miss the 90's.

A well produced film about an ex-drunk Investigator callled Scudder : Liam Neeson , who becomes involved into a twisted criminal case while he is going to discover the killers . Liam Neeson plays an ex-cop with alcohol problems and dark past who has to confront dangerous enemies to save himself and his young friend , a fourteen year-old street kid . As he's hired by a drug lord : Dan Stevens , that's why he's initially reluctant to investigate the assigned case , but then he changes the mind and carries out the hard investigation. He discovers several pieces of a puzzle and Scudder has to solve who is the killer and whom goes to murder . Soon after, he finds that the murderers have killed other women connected to drug dealers and they get their files from the DEA. Lives are on the line ! . People are afraid of all the wrong things . His life on the line ! .

Thrilling and nail-biting movie with noisy action , shootouts , spectacular scenes , fights , violence and amazing finale . From start to finish the fractic action , twists and turns are continuous . As always , Liam Neeson is very good as the ex-cop and private eye who is caught-up in a risked investigation with fateful consequences . Liam playing in his usual style as Private investigator Matthew Scudder who is hired by a drug kingpin well played by Dan Stevens to find out who abducted and killed his wife. Neeson at his best , returning to high-profile roles in 2010 with big-budget films with plenty of action and violence such as : Team A (2010), Unknown (2011), The Grey (2011), Battleship (2012) and Taken I and Taken 2 (2012) , Cold Pursuit (2019) and fiinally The Marksman (2021) . Liam is well accompanied by attractive secondaries , such as as Dan Stevens , Sebastian Roche , Boyd Holbrook , Brian Bradley, David Harbour , among others.

It packs atmospheric and some dark cinematography by Mihai Malaimare shot in New York , using steadicam, at times . The musician Rafael Rivera composes a moving and rousing musical score fitting perfectly to the frenetic action . The motion picture was well directed by Scott Frank. He's a notorious writer and director who has made some nice films . As his first feature directed Josph Gordon Levitt in The Lookout (2007). Scott Frank was nominated for the 2018 Emmy Award in the Outstanding Writing for a Limited Series, Movie or Special category for Godless (2017), but lost to William Bridges & Charlie Brooker for Black Mirror: USS Callister (2017). He wrote prestigious scripts as noir anthology, Fallen Angels (1993) and Frank also wrote the screenplay for Joanou's 1996 feature , Heaven's Prisoners(1996) . Rating : 7/10. Notable thriller , well worth watching . The flick will appeal to thriller enthusiasts . Essential and indispensable watching for Liam Neeson fans.

Intense. Much better than the current rating - 6.5 reflects.