Review of Run All Night (2015) by Leon B — 23 Aug 2015

Review:

I quite enjoyed this film because it was well put together and full of tension throughout. Its about a hitman (Liam Neeson), who has turned his back on criminal life after a bad experience on the job. He now lives in a small apartment with very little money and his violent past haunts him, so he turns to the bottle for comfort. His close friend, mob boss (Ed Harris), is still running things in Brooklyn but his son is taking care of the day to day running of the business. He proposes a deal with some Russians to sell Heroin in his community but Harris turns the deal down so the Russians threatens his son because they paid him for the deal to go through. They then ask for the money back and the son decides to take matters into his own hands. Neesons son, whose a limo driver, was driving the Russians on the day of the shootout and he witnesses Harris's son killing one of the Russians. He then ends up on the run because his son doesn't want any trace of the murder to get out, so Neeson decides to protect his son, even though there relationship is pretty bad. Harris is also out to protect his son so he sends out all of his men and some dodgy policemen, to take out his best friend (Neeson) and his son. There is more to the story but I don't want to spoil it for people who haven't seen it. Its full of intense action from the beginning to the end and Neeson and Harris was a great choice by the director. What did annoy me was Neeson's son, who kept on going on about there bad relationship, even though Neeson kept on saving his life and his families. There was only a couple of scenes when he showed any compassion towards his dad, who really does put his life on the line but he just keeps on whining all the way to the end. With that aside, I did find the film entertaining and it really does prove that the veteran actors are the best choice for movies in this genre. Neeson kicks but once again and there's loads of car chasing, gun shooting, fist fighting and drama for the audiences to enjoy. Enjoyable!

Round-Up:

Although this movie didn't make a hefty profit, you can't fault the great chemistry between Neeson and Harris, as friends and as enemies. Ed Harris is still working hard at 64 and he has covered every genre, except for comedy which just wouldn't suit his style of acting. He's starred in some big movies like A Beautiful Mind, Gone Baby Gone, A History of Violence, The Truman Show, The Rock, Gravity and Pain and Gain so he definitely has earned the right to be called a veteran in Hollywood. He has a humble style of acting and he always puts in a no fuss, top performance. He's not known for playing the lead in his films but his presence is always known. Liam Neeson, 63, just seems to be going from strength to strength lately and with the Batman and Star Wars franchises behind him, there's no looking back for this action hero. Since Darkman in 1990, his unique voice and screen charisma has entertained many audiences in many different genres and with 8 movies in the pipeline he has definitely made his mark in Hollywood. This movie was directed by Jaume Collet-Serra from Barcelona who also directed Non-Stop and Unknown with Liam Neeson. Other titles to his name are Orphan, Goal II and House of Wax but his claim to fame has to be the films that he has made with Neeson. He did do a good job with this movie and his attention to detail in the storyline was pretty impressive. It was good to see another side to Neeson's acting at the beginning of the movie but it didn't take long for him to get back into action hero mode. .

Budget: $50million.

Worldwide Gross: $67million.

I recommend this movie to people who are into their action/crime/dramas about a father and son who are on the run, after killing a mob bosses son. 6/10.