Run All Night, Dir. Jaume Collet-Serra 2015

     The Liam Neeson action star phenomenon continues with this fairly conventional but well made action thriller. I enjoyed director Collet-Serra's previous pictures Non-Stop, an exciting and fast-paced action movie set on a plane also starring Neeson, and Orphan, an edgy if pretty slow and slightly generic horror.  

     Like Non Stop Collet-Serra has assembled a pretty talented cast for Run All Night, including a supporting rostrum of Ed Harris, Joel Kinnaman, Vincent D'Onofrio, rapper Common, and a cameo from Nick Nolte. Neeson plays retired crook Jimmy Conlon; a tired old man who smokes and drinks too much and seems to exist only to suffer daily from the guilt and shame of his past crimes. He has abandoned his son Mike, to protect him from the gangster lifestyle but still holds a friendship with his old partner and organized crime boss Shawn Maguire, played by Harris.

     One night Mike, a limousine driver, delivers some shady clients to a meeting, which unbeknown to him is being hosted by Maguire's drug dealing son Danny. Danny is in trouble as his father has rejected a heroin dealing proposition and the clients arrive regardless for their payout. Clearly untroubled by their threats he guns them down, and Mike and his boxing trainee friend who has conveniently shown up with a his smartphone and videoed the whole thing, witness the crime. Mike escapes and when Danny comes looking for him, Neeson is there to kill him. Resignedly calling Shawn to tell him what's happened, a game of cat and mouses ensues that lasts throughout the night.

     Collet-Serra makes uses of some handy camerawork and CGI to jump around New York, building a picture of these relationships which span the city and to track this deadly game of the hunter being hunted. Neeson plays the role like most of his other recent ones, the Taken franchise prominently coming to mind of course. The story is well devised and the relationship between Neeson and Harris is well written. The pain of this unfortunate situation, tainting the romanticism and affection for their close past, is well composed. The action scenes are well directed, but the stand out car chase and escape from an apartment complex felt a little old fashioned and uninspiring. The best action sequences come from fights between Neeson and Common, playing a relentless but not invincible hitman. They use their surroundings well to injure one another and the violence has impact and force.

     My biggest issue with the picture was the running time and pacing. At nearly two hours it did outstay it's welcome, and there are long fairly dull periods which only serve to advance the story towards the inevitable showdown between Harris and Neeson. When it finally comes it's all a little fleeting and lacking power.
   
3/5