Run All Night

 

It’s got to the stage that the words “Liam Neeson” and “action movie” are enough to get me to the cinema.  However, like the rest of the world I am a slow learner as Liam Neeson’s action movies started and peaked with Taken and since then we have all trudged to the cinema with half-hearted hopes that he will recapture the ass-kicking madness.  He never does but we always await his next offering with anticipation.

Run All Night appeared in the listings without prior warning and after watching the trailer on route to the cinema I decided to keep my expectations low. 

PLOT: After killing his bosses’ son to save his own child former hitman and current drunk Jimmy Conlon (Liam Neeson) must Run All Night (roll credits) to keep his estranged son Michael (Joel Kinnaman) alive.  END PLOT

On paper the plot of Run All Night is ridiculous but thankfully I have this wonderful ability to switch my brain off at the door and just go with whatever is thrown at me.  The eye for an eye logic, a woefully incompetent police force and Liam Neeson’s marksmanship being greater than that of an average alcoholic did not bother me at all.  Once I accepted the absurdity of the script it was easy to go along for the run....all night.

Thankfully Run All Night wasn’t stuck with a 12A rating so the audience was able to enjoy swearing and action that wasn’t watered down.  This is what saved the film from being a complete wreck.  There were moments when the action became surprisingly tense and overall it was much better than expected.

Liam Neeson was born to play the mildly pissed off action hero and his performance was by the book.  Joel Kinnaman is new to me but he has provided the motivation I needed to check out The Killing.  Ed Harris rocks up and phones in a bad guy performance but, like everything else in the film, it is just enough to get by.

Run All Night is Neeson and director Jaume Collet-Serra’s third film together and it is easily their best.  It gets 6/10.  The problem is Run All Night is neither good nor bad enough to be remembered.  It simply existed for its 144min duration.