Warner Bros. Pictures
Run All Night is yet another one of those Liam Neeson action/crime/revenge type of movies, although this one has a bit more of the complexity of a noir style. Liam plays a former mob enforcer named Jimmy Conlon, who’s estranged from his son Mike (Joel Kinnaman) and is now basically a washed up old drunkard. Jimmy used to work for mob boss Shawn (Ed Harris), who has his own family issues; Shawn’s son Danny (Boyd Holbrook) has gotten caught up with Albanian druglords and ends up killing them. But Mike, who was working that night as a driver, is a witness to the scene so now Danny wants to kill him. So far, a story that seems familiar, of course.
It’s all a setup to get Jimmy back into action to defend his son and his son’s family (including Génesis Rodríguez as his wife) by shooting people. One of the interesting things is that Jimmy is also doing this to prevent his son from becoming a killer too, which adds an interesting layer of complexity to the narrative. More characters are introduced, like Vincent D’Onofrio as a police detective on the case and Common as the mysterious assassin Andrew Price. Price is one of those super competent assassins you always see in the movies. Things escalate, Liam Neeson shoots people, the ending is bittersweet, basically what you’d expect from this genre.
The movie has a very “typical” sort of feel for this sort of crime movie. It’s noir crime, so there’s complex morality, but because we’ve seen those movies before, none of the characters are particularly unique or interesting. So the draw has to be the action, cinematography, and acting. Liam Neeson is once again great in this role as the aging action star, consistently believable as an older man who’s still a badass. Since it’s noir, Liam Neeson also gets to act, giving a bit of a dark comic edge to his character, which I appreciate. Ed Harris is pretty good, but he’s playing it so straight it’s not that interesting a performance. Common is also fine, especially as his assassin is quite different from his real world personality. Perhaps he’s not the most believable action star, but it plays okay. As for Joel Kinnaman, well, he’s fine. Nothing too special.
In terms of action, it’s what I would call “engaging but not thrilling.” I’ve seen better from Liam Neeson, but it’s certainly a step up from director Jaume Collet-Serra’s last collaboration with him Non-Stop, which I didn’t care for. The movie did look great, showing up the NYC night scene to great effect, which is sort of the point of the movie in some ways. In general the movie can be fun, but it’s not going to be one of the memorable ones.
In terms of the transfer to the Blu-ray, the video looks great on 1080p high definition 16×9 2.4:1, with only a few scenes difficult to follow. As the movie is mostly shot at night, that can be a problem, but in general it works. The audio is DTS-HD MA: English 7.1, English Descriptive Audio 5.1, Dolby Digital: Françias 5.1 (Dubbed in Quebec) and Español 5.1. Subtitles are in English, Françias, and Español, and it also works well, keeping dialogue clear but action segments engaging. It’s a surprisingly subtle movie in terms of audio.
The Blu-ray also includes the following special features:
- Shoot All Night (10:26) — This is a short piece with the actors and director talking about the filming of the movie. Some interesting insights here, like how it was shot over 50 days mostly at night, which has its own issues and problems. Liam Neeson also mentions at one point that he thinks of the movie as a modern day John Ford piece, which I don’t get at all. But I usually like these behind the scenes pieces if they aren’t fluff or pointless, and this one is interesting enough.
- Liam Neeson: Action All Night (6:09) — Another short piece, this time focused on the only reason the movie was made, star Liam Neeson. A decent look at Liam’s perspective on the movie, including some talking from him about how he likes the theme of families in movies, wrapped up in a little bit of action. Some of his movies are more than a little action though.
- Deleted Scenes (16:20) — A mixed bag of deleted scenes, which is to be expected. We see a flashback scene with Shawn in a bad wig with some very violent imagery and some overly gratuitous strip club backdrop. Understandably cut. There’s also more with Shawn, humanizing him more and sort of setting up the Albanians as a bad idea, instead of how we’re just dropped into the action in the movie. There’s also an extended and emotional scene with grandfather Eddie (Nick Nolte) about Liam’s history with his dead brother, which is good, but I get why they cut it out.
Warner Bros. Pictures generously provided Hotchka with a Blu-ray for reviewing purposes.
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