Run All Night (2015)

** out of ****

You know, the more I see Liam Neeson the “action movie star” the more I wonder why I ever thought the guy was the talent I used to view him as. He plays action characters so one-note, so stereotypically, that I can't imagine him stretching his acting legs anymore. But he is being accepted in this new type of role, so what the hell do I know?

When Neeson started with the “Taken” series, I liked what he was doing. It's nice to see a guy that only takes serious roles doing something fun and campy for once. But that seems to be ALL he is doing these days. The three “Taken” movies, “The Grey”, “NonStop”, “A Walk Among the Tombstones” and now “Run All Night” all have, on paper at least, very different types of leading characters. Yet Neeson plays them all so milquetoast that they are all basically the same guy.

In “Run All Night” he is Jimmy “The Gravedigger” Conlon, a once-feared mafia hitman.  His closest friend and mob-boss is Shawn MacGwire (Ed Harris), who continues to keep Jimmy on the payroll despite his now being a washed-up drunk. Jimmy's fall from grace came when he left his family, including his son Michael (Joel Kinnaman) so they wouldn't be contaminated by his evil deeds, and he is haunted by his decision to leave them. 

Michael is now a limo-driver, and one night he witnesses Shawn's son murder some drug dealers.  After some cat-and-mouse and plot complications, Jimmy (Neeson) ends up killing Shawn's son to protect Michael.  MacGwire decides he wants Jimmy's son to be killed in retaliation so that Jimmy suffer the same pain he is feeling.  Father and son go on the run.

It's all pretty typical action movie fare, though it is all pretty well done. My biggest issue with the film was Neeson's inability to connect with the character. He didn't seem like an agonized drunk looking for redemption, he still seemed the assassin from “Taken” who was now just pretending to be someone else.  It seems to me Neeson plays all these action movies exactly the same way.  Despite liking the film on the most basic levels, I couldn't get into it due to this.

Overall it's okay, but one that will be forgotten almost as soon as the credits finish rolling.