Review of A Walk Among the Tombstones (2014) by Facebook U — 16 Oct 2014

The 2014 crime film noir movie A Walk Among the Tombstones, starring Liam Neeson, is a traditional adaptation of the novel of the same name, written by Lawrence Block in 1992, one of a series of books about ex-police detective Matthew Scudder turned private eye. This book follows A Dance at the Slaughterhouse in the series of novels about Scudder and deals with the world of drugs and alcohol and those who are trying to escape the lifestyle those two items evoke.

This particular book deals with a drug wholesaler, Kenan Khoury, whose wife is kidnapped and killed after he works a deal with the kidnappers over the price of the ransom. Scudder is hired by the drug dealer to track down those responsible for the kidnapping and murder. The detective finds out that the actions for this horrendous act were done by a group of serial killers who turned their evil pleasure into money. Scudder is a recovering alcoholic, who is trying to control his drinking and dealing with his sobriety by attendance at AA meetings, while he is living his life in an easy, one-day-at-a-time, working when it becomes necessary to offset his modest needs and spending time with the special woman in his life, former call girl Elaine Mardell, who has become the love of his life. He is contacted as already said by a heroin trafficker whose brother Scudder knows through AA.

Not only was the trafficker's wife kidnapped and a huge ransom asked for her return, which the husband pays, the wife is returned, cut up into small pieces and returned in small packages. Obviously, the trafficker cannot report this to the police, but he has decided that he wants to get the people responsible for the torture and murder of his wife and who took his money. Employing Scudder to find these people, Scudder walks around New York and boroughs, talking to anyone and everyone until he learns something that points to the serial killers who have been doing this kidnapping/murdering scenario over a long period of time. With the help of two computer geniuses and TJ, Scudder begins to believe that he has discovered who the killers are, when another kidnapping happens and Scudder becomes involved with this new one and the exchange of money required for the release of the young girl taken, daughter of another drug dealer. Reoccurring characters are found in most of Block's novels, such as Danny Boy Bell, the albino with information, TJ, a street-wise black kid, and Elaine, a very smart, successful call girl and Scudder's girlfriend, who helps throughout this story to find the kidnappers/killers.

There was way too much dialog in this book which I found distracting from the plot and storyline and it appeared to be a bit unnecessary at times to the overall feel of this action/thriller literature. The ending also just fell off and had me wondering why Block ended it the way he did. It was the last one of his books that I read, so I am not certain if the next novel in this series continued where he left off with Scudder and Elaine.

The film was adapted and directed by Scott Frank and as already stated, stars Liam Neeson as Scudder, Dan Stevens as Kenan Khoury (Kenny Kristo in the movie), Boyd Holbrook as Kenny's brother Peter, and TJ, the street kid, is played by rapper Astro. Names have been changed throughout the film and the character Elaine, important to the story from the book, has been totally left out of the film. In this movie, it begins with the back story of Scudder, who is an off-duty NYPD officer, who is involved in a robbery at a bar where he has been drinking for free. He shoots the thieves, but unfortunately inadvertently kills a seven-year-old girl. This causes him to quit the police force and spends the next eight years working as an unlicensed private detective, while attending AA meetings. The film then jumps to eight years after the shooting, where at a meeting; he is approached by the brother of Kenny Kristo, who is looking to hire him to find his wife's killer. Finding out that the wife was taken for ransom, and then killed after the $400,000 ransom was paid. The wife's body was returned cut up and returned in small pieces, same as in the book. Scudder accepts the job and while doing his research at a local library, he meets TJ, who helps Scudder find information on similar cases to Kenny's. Different than the book. Meeting a cemetery groundskeeper who had found one of the victim's remains, Scudder follows him back to his house, where Scudder discovers that he was one of the people involved with one of the murders. (In the book, there are only two perps!) This person tells Scudder that he met the other two men who have a fetish-like interest in death before he jumps off the roof of his apartment building, killing himself. He also tells Scudder that one of the men is named Ray (played menacingly by David Harbour), who worked for the DEA and had been after drug dealers, shaking them down for money.

While all of this is going on, Ray and his accomplice kidnap another drug dealer's daughter. (Similar to the book, although in the book, it is a wife not a daughter.) Scudder learns of this and with the help of TJ who brings the box of Scudder's old police equipment to this new victim's house, he instructs the victim to refuse payment until the girl is proven to be alive since Scudder is certain that the kidnappers will kill the girl regardless. After the ransom is paid and Ray and his accomplice have picked it up in person and exchanged it for the girl, a shootout happens, injuring Ray, who with his accomplice, leave the drop site (the cemetery and tombstones - from the title of the book!) and return to their home. Unbeknown to them, TJ has managed to hide out in their automobile and notifies Scudder and his team where they are located. Arriving at the kidnappers' house, it is discovered that the accomplice has decided to kill Ray rather than treat his wounds received at the drop. After a brief scuffle, the accomplice is restrained and TJ is sent back to Scudder apartment. Kenny decides to cut up Ray rather than turning him in to the police and while doing this, the accomplice manages to escape and kills Kenny before he can. Another struggle and Scudder kills the accomplice. The police arrive, while Scudder returns to his apartment, and finds TJ sleeping on his sofa. End of the film and a set up for a sequel!!

Now the ending of the book and the film are very, very different. In the book, Scudder and Elaine are talking about being together. No mention of TJ in the ending. Kenny is Kenan and NOT killed in the book...he leaves America and returns to his homeland of Lebanon. His brother simply disappears...believed to have jumped off a bridge where his car was found and NOT killed as he was in the film. The demise of the killers was reversed and the name of Ray was supplied by Elaine in her research helping Scudder. A previous inmate of Ray tells on him and not a groundskeeper at a cemetery and definitely no mention of pigeons! Also in the novel, Kenan does cut up the remaining killer, but he is the one cut up by one of the killers in the film. Scudder, throughout the book, has known TJ, who can glean information that Scudder is not privy to.

The director Frank has turned this literature into an action movie, but on some level has managed to keep the texture and grit of the novel. Obviously, the book has a lot more plot, sub-plot, characters, details on the gruesome and awful murders, etc. The basic premise is very similar, with the story revolving around Scudder's investigation of the kidnapping and murder of the wife, but leaving out all the boring work done by the hackers into the phone company's log that helps to locate the killers. And the change in name of the victim's is obvious and removes from the film any racial element that is a thread in the book.

The cinematography was well handled by Mihai Malaimare, Jr. I did notice that there were some issues in editing, continuity and framing, but not enough to take away from the intent of the film. I do believe that there could have been some more back story on Scudder which was omitted and had been included in the book. The dialog in some spots was very weak and when TJ was speaking "street talk," it was difficult to understand him. Liam Neeson and Dan Stevens as always are a treat to watch as they are excellent actors. But to appreciate the entire story, I'd suggest you read the book, but to appreciate the theme of the novel, then this film version should suffice. However, keep in mind, that both are very violent and gory! GRADE: 3 of 5 crowns.