Musings on... A Walk Among the Tombstones

Let me start this off by saying that I am a massive Liam Neeson fan. I think he's had one of the most fascinating career trajectories of recent times, from the Oscar-winning brilliance of Schindler's List to the face-smashing brilliance of Taken, which he was already 56 when he made. He's on the shortlist of actors where if they're in a movie, I'm going to pay to go and see it (Tom Cruise and Daniel Day Lewis are the other stalwarts on this list, with an honourable mention for Michael Fassbender). The genius of the second half of Neeson's career in acting was that he'd brought all of his performing chops as a 'serious' actor to, on paper at least, throwaway, cliched action movies.

Unfortunately it seems like he's just cruising at this stage. In an appearance on Inside the Actors' Studio (no Youtube link available unfortunately, but it's worth seeking out), he stated bluntly that he was doing these action films for the money. You have to respect his honesty, but hearing this leads you to analyse his performances in a different prism – is he actually putting the effort into this film, or is it just another case of turn up, collect the paycheque, on to the next one? In Taken, and especially The Grey, Neeson really brought it. There was a level of darkness, intensity, even desperation in those performances that was utterly compelling. It suggested we could look forward to a consistent run of action films over the next ten years - the same feeling you might have gotten when they brought The Rock on board for the Fast and Furious franchise. 

In his last two performances, however – the incredibly disappointing Taken 2 and the (admittedly entertaining) Non Stop, the passion just hasn't been there. It seems like he's got on set and the director has told him, 'just do the Taken stuff. You know, throw people around, talk menacingly into a phone. We'll sort out the rest.' The special thing about Neeson was that he had blended serious acting with action movies. Now the acting isn't so serious. It's all just a pastiche of his Taken character.

Does the preposterously-titled A Walk Among the Tombstones (my cinema buddy and I both completely forgot the title at the ticket office, and ended up asking for, 'the Tombstones movie... the one with Liam Neeson'), mark an end to this mediocre run?... Nope!

Fans of Liam Neeson Action Movie Bingo will be asking the projectionist to pause the film so they can fill in their cards. Ex-cop? Check. Recovering alcoholic? Check. Widower/ divorced? Check. Talks threateningly into a phone? Check. Dark past, centered around one terrible incident? Check. Man on the edge feel? Of course.

The plot, such as it is, sees recovering-alcoholic former-cop-turned-grizzly-PI Liam Neeson approached by a fantastically well-groomed and frowny drug overlord, who wants him to investigate the murder of his wife. Neeson soon discovers that she was just one in a chain of victims who were disposed of in a similar way.

The film was surprisingly dark in a number of ways. The bad guys, while not entirely believable, were still menacing, and there were a couple of scenes of implied sexual violence which were genuinely uncomfortable. There are also absolutely no good guys in this movie, at least among the adult characters. Neeson, as mentioned, has his dark past. The cops are corrupt. All of Neeson's allies in the film are either drug addicts or drug dealers. The bad guys murder and rape seemingly at will, drawing other weaker characters into their web as they go. Hollywood action movies aren't usually brave enough to feature a complete set of morally abject characters. This film inhabits an intriguing, seedy world which is well built, and it's just a shame that Neeson's character seems to spend most of the movie floating through it, from one dingy apartment or alleyway to another, instead of imprinting himself as he should.

Despite its lack of originality, another forgettable performance from Neeson, and a weird father/son relationship which develops between Neeson and a teenager he meets in the library that doesn't really work, Tombstones does a good job of holding your attention for most of the running time, right up to the gripping final act. It's not a classic, and you'll forget you even saw it within a year, but if you're a Neeson believer (and I remain one, though I'm starting to worry he'll never return to top form), or if you just fancy a night out at the cinema, you could do worse than A Walk Among the Tombstones (and again, enjoy asking for it at the ticket office if you do decide to go).