Review of A Walk Among the Tombstones (2014) by Alasdair B — 02 Oct 2014

Over the last several years, Liam Neeson has been in a number of action films / thrillers. From the Taken franchise, Non Stop, and a few other appearances. While I enjoyed the first Taken film, its sequel and Non Stop failed to please me. I thought he'd never rise out of the garbage films he was doing and actually act in something good. However, "A Walk Among The Tombstones" changes all that.

The film is based on a crime novel I now would like to read. It's about a retired cop who is hired by a drug dealer to kill the men who slaughtered his wife. That being said, the film is very gruesome. It doesn't show much, but you hear about it. The villains (for lack of a better word) are sickening. David Harbour does a great performance. He is convincingly evil. You really want these guys to pay.

Lets not leave out Mr. Neeson. This is his best performance in a long time. For once he was actually playing a character. He nailed the upstate accent perfectly. His role and character were convincing. One of the problems with Neeson of late have been he is the same in every role he does. In "Taken'' he's not Brian Mills, he's Liam Neeson. He is always playing himself. However in this he shows his true acting chops he hasn't shown off in a while. This is not a regular Liam Neeson movie. This is so very different than what he's been doing.

The films problems are few. A tad bit slow. Just a tad. I would have liked a bit more action and a bit more suspense. However, this is Neeson's best film in recent memory. Fantastic acting, clever creative cinematography, a solid story, and convincing, "A Walk Among the Tombstones" is a great crime film to add to the number of great films this year. Neeson is back!