At this stage in his career, Liam Neeson is just playing himself. In the same way that Bruce Willis just plays Bruce Willis, Neeson is now almost a parody like character. In his latest movie, A Walk Among The Tombstones, he continues playing the moody, gruff and gravely voiced character he has been doing for years. And for you Taken fans, Neeson is almost doing a send up of his infamous Taken phone speech here.
Set in New York in 1999, Matthew Scudder is an unlicensed private investigator. A cop in a past career, now Scudder finds himself dealing with drug dealers who want his help when it comes to their kidnapped wife and daughter. The movie starts off interestingly enough with a gritty and authentic opening in the big apple, but once things hit the late 90s, it just falls into a predictable by the numbers half hearted thriller.
Audiences expecting a non-stop action packed experience, will be sorely disappointed as A Walk Among The Tombstones drags out every scene it possibly can with a few occasional gun battles breaking the boredom. New York city is a place that is bursting with character and personality, but with the exception of a few shots, it is unrecognisable here, with nothing but generic streets and buildings appearing in shot after shot. You’ll even be hard pushed to find a yellow cab on screen. While it’s not a major problem with the movie, when you have such a city at your disposal, you use it.
Never before has a movie title being more accurate. A Walk Among The Tombstones, has more walking in it than the entire Lord Of The Rings trilogy. Neeson’s character walks everywhere, and at a snails pace too. The only people in a hurry may well be the audience, and that’s to get out. With a graveyard playing a pivotal role in the marketing, you’d expect it to feature alot more, alas no. It’s more like a sprint among the tombstones.
The cast also fall foul of a lethargic story. They appear only to fill in the running time and are never anything but fodder. Let alone the fact that the disappear for large amounts of time at a go. There probably is an interesting buddy movie here between Scudder and TJ, but it’s never utilised in full and only feels like an afterthought, especially in the last half hour.
Neeson as mentioned, is only playing himself and this stage, and while he can do that quite well, he really is turning into a one trick pony at this stage. When you hear him do a similar Taken style phone conversation in the latter half of the movie, it’s just cringe worthy.
With a script that is ultimately far too bloated, this is best avoided. If you’re a die hard Neeson fan who’d watch him take a shit, then this is the movie for you. Otherwise, leave this in the toilet where it belongs!
