Review: Run All Night
Third time is the charm for director Jaume Collet-Serra and actor Liam Neeson, who come together for their strongest and most satisfying collaboration to date in the well-constructed action drama Run All Night. Though the Taken franchise is wholly responsible for Neeson's unlikely third act as an action star, it is his work with the Spanish director (Unknown, Non-Stop) that has most effectively made use of the Irishman's action persona: the all-too-fallible hero who must overcome his own internal demons to deal with the external conflicts at hand.
Neeson's Jimmy Conlon is a sad sight. Once a mob enforcer so feared that he was nicknamed "the Gravedigger," he is now a washed-up drunk, wracked with guilt over his past misdeeds which cost him his family. Jimmy is still looked after by former boss Shawn Maguire (Ed Harris) - longtime friends, their bond runs deep - who tells Jimmy they both did what they had to do back in the day. Things are different now - Shawn has turned himself into a legitimate businessman, which is why he refuses to partner up with the Albanian drug dealers his son Danny (Boyd Holbrook) introduces him to. The problem is the Albanians have already paid Danny to guarantee Shawn's involvement, and they want their money back.
Things go mightily awry when Danny ends up killing the Albanians, an act witnessed by their driver Mike (Joel Kinnaman), who happens to be Jimmy's estranged son. Jimmy ends up killing Danny to protect Mike, angering Shawn who promises his old friend that he will come after Mike with everything he's got. Jimmy must now find a way to clear Mike's name whilst evading Shawn's henchmen, including hired hitman Price (Common); the NYPD, who believe Mike shot the two dirty cops in Danny's employ; and Detective Harding (Vincent D'Onofrio), who has been trying to capture Jimmy for the past three decades.
It is that consistent application of pressure that makes Run All Night such an exciting and vigorous thriller. From the dynamic car chase that recalls The French Connection to the set piece in a high-rise tenement building, Collet-Serra stages sequences that are robust and brawny. The latter sequence is particularly thrilling as Jimmy and Mike must make their way out of a burning building surrounded by cops, finally flinging themselves from the balconies as both Price and Harding narrow in. With its fistfights and car chases, Run All Night is old-fashioned in the best possible way, and the care taken in Brad Ingelsby's script to establish the bond between Jimmy and Shawn reinforces how high the emotional stakes are for these two blood brothers.
Indeed, both Neeson and Harris do excellent work here. Some may argue that Jimmy's transition from self-pitying alcoholic to quick-minded man of action may be too abrupt, but Neeson clearly defines the turning point - there is a moment of clarity that washes over Jimmy in the seconds following Danny's death. He knows what must be done, and all he can hope for is to negotiate the best possible outcome when he gets on the phone with Shawn to tell him what he has done. The pain and resignation as both men choose their sons over their friendship is beautifully expressed by Neeson and Harris, and makes the inevitable conclusion all the more resonant and powerful.
Some minor quibbles: Junkie XL's intrusive score seems plucked from the stock library; an unbilled cameo from Nick Nolte is slightly distracting; and though Common is a charismatic performer, his already superfluous character ends up unnecessarily extending the story, which had already come to its ideal and logical conclusion.
Run All Night
Directed by: Jaume Collet-Serra
Written by: Brad Inglesby
Starring: Liam Neeson, Ed Harris, Joel Kinnaman, Boyd Holbrook, Common, Vincent D'Onofrio, Bruce McGill, Holt McCallany, Genesis Rodriguez
