Review of Run All Night (2015) by Viet Phuong N — 18 Jul 2015

I just realize that all those "Taken"-ish action (kind-of) B films (including the recently revered "John Wick") are actually the fast-food version of Scorsese's legendary crime films like "Goodfellas", "Casino", and even recently "Gangs of New York" and "The Departed".

If Scorsese's works are like fine-dining dishes that refine all the essence of the action and crime genres through a filter made by Scorsese's idiosyncratic style and philosophy, then all those "Taken"-ish films try to resemble them with .

.. way crappier ingredients of clichés, unrealistic twist-and-turn, forceful message, cheap and repetitive settings, and of course, as any fast-food should have, a lot of cheese - cheesy "pseudo-philosophical" script that is.

And that is not necessarily a bad thing, since those ingredients make these films easier for the mass audience to digest and enjoy in short term, especially when it can still retain a trademark of Scorsese's crime films - a leading male full of charisma, machismo, righteousness yet still affectional and relatable, by casting again, and again, and again, Liam Neeson (whose characters function in pretty much the same way his role in Scorsese's "Gangs of New York" functioned).

However, similar to the well-known fact that fast-food is easier to digest and enjoy but is not at all good for the body in big quantity or regular diet, "Taken"-ish films would easily become boring and tasteless due to their repetitiveness year in, year out as all the profoundly humanistic stories by Scorsese are "dumbed" down to suit their philosophy of "the easier to digest, the better".

"Run All Night" is no different. It is admittedly enjoyable but very repetitive, shallow, and cheesy. I give it three stars only for helping me to consummate two hours of nothingness in the air.