Balade entre les tombes

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

A Walk Among the Tombstones tells a pretty basic detective story. It doesn't necessarily offer us anything new, and that truly is the case here: it's just another episode of a private detective. Even with all of the twisted scenarios, there isn't anything else big or even daring to the picture. While some might be bothered with its lack of innovation, fans of these types of mystery films would still have the pleasure. It has been kind of rare to have such crime thrillers like this in cinemas today, and by its simplicity in storytelling, it sure does deliver things right. What matters to the experience in the end is it's a finely crafted piece of noir that nearly glosses over to the fact that it's just a relic, but a pretty decent one.

The film follows the classic roots of the genre, you won't find any sort of uniqueness around the storyline, but how it constructed each of its sequences still manage to be charming at the beginning and gripping along the way. It just lets the detective walk from one place to another to find clues and unfold questions. But it never lacks the tension, the film places its coldness to buildup an atmosphere that brings uncertainty to the fate of the investigation. The best thing about it is it's simple. It doesn't bother adding some mind-blowing or ridiculous twists, it just digs within a world where some evil can be found in any street. Settling with the characters is as well one of its finest moments, they may not have the most original arcs, but it is undeniably entertaining when it lingers to them.

The direction is predictably slick, and it totally benefits by it for making every scene of bleakness and violence emotionally effective. People shouldn't take for granted its decent camera-work that sharply displays its vital points. It gets even better when explores around its main man: Liam Neeson is now commonly used as an action hero, but here the film rather uses the better side of that reputation which is keeping the audience feel that he is a dangerous man to deal with, even without revealing much of the fists and gunpoint, it's still a totally compelling depiction of his character's cold, brooding personality.

My personal enjoyment to the film is how refreshing to see a mystery film this straightforward and unpretentiously dark in modern cinema. I mean I might as well seen one in any crime television series running today, but it's a lot fascinating to witness it in this form, plus a tone this gritty, a style so clever, and a performance from its main star that makes it more interesting. Again, you won't find anything groundbreaking to the film, but leaving that thought behind would make you realize that it is still a terrifically put together, unpredictably told crime thriller. And I bet that's already enough for this sort of entertainment.

Doubting whether audiences do really know the existence of this crime film due to poor marketing, Liam Neeson's name alone however has no problem at all to draw a solid walk-ins, and surprisingly it turns out to be a compelling story compared to his previous roles. Unlike the other same genre, this does not filled with action-packed scenes, but progresses steadily and methodically in details just like a real investigation in daily life, making it appears to be a chilling drama thriller. Not much of plot twists, but certain creepy moments with solid scores, riveting performance from the hero himself and the supporting casts, nasty and eerie crime heavily based on drugs and alcohol, the surprisingly "muted" ending style are more than enough to guarantee an intense, enjoyable, old-fashioned and watchable psycho- thriller.

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

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.