Situated in the early scenes in a boxing gym is just a great way to kick-start the movie "Run All Night" one that's saturated with fine fundamentals added with just a touch of vivacity. Yes you may say that this just familiar territory for Liam Neeson to play another bad-ass who's out to save his estranged son who's life is hanging on the balance. Unlike his other crime action films, Olivier Megaton isn't directing this one. Calling the shots this time around is Jaume Collet-Serra one of the best guys directing in this generation.
Collet-Serra and Neeson are not strangers to one another as they collaborated in two films before this one "Unknown" (2011) and "Non- Stop" (2014) which exhibits beyond Neeson's physique but his vulnerability matched with his mournful gravitas. Neeson plays Jimmy Conlon, a pathetic chump placed in embarrassing predicament by playing Santa Claus at a Christmas party led by his old boss Shawn Maguire (Ed Harris) and even that he still manages to screw up at that. At one time, Conlon was an established hit-man who has lost his touch and now spends his time gulping down Jameson's at pub where he and Maguire hung out and together they would paint the town red in blood.
One night Shawn's son Danny (Boyd Holbrook) attempted to murder Jimmy's son Mike (Joel Kinnaman), but in the end Jimmy kills Danny instead, leading for vengeful night of pure anarchy in the span of one night. Suddenly overnight, Jimmy's trigger-finger is resurrected and the blood party is now in full gear.
One of the best things about this movie is that the plot never meanders and Collet-Serra's direction sticks to the point. At times his focus is primarily to get each of his shots to the very last detail while succeeding in keeping it legible, even the sky view of the repeated helicopter are revived from the clichéd jagged abbreviation.
The effects of this movie is simply breath-taking. The car chases going by way of the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway through the bustling traffic on Jamaica Avenue and directly into a storefront as it flowed through the escarpment of utter chaos. It seems like Collet-Serra took pages out of the books of classic crime action directors from the 1970's like William Friedkin and Walter Hill while never showing any disloyalty along the way. I give a nod to Hill because the fisticuffs in the subway bathroom is reminiscent to the 1979 film "The Warriors" though Collet-Serra adds asphyxiation with the help of hand-towel.
Other symbolic set-pieces like visual anchors or the flaming torches are esoterically used for points of reference as to where all the exciting action is going to take place. Both of those scene center around Andrew Price (Common) a killer-for hire who terminates cops and until he showed up, the body count was fairly minimal. And sure the movie may not always be coherent, Collet-Serra still succeeds in maintaining realism and keeping every situation plausible.
When it comes to casting Collet-Serra has remained concrete in terms of casting decisions. And by hiring reputable performers, he demands that his cast embody and unusual conviction towards each other. For example there is great chemistry between Neeson and Harris and they both never looked better and their acting is both elevated in terms of delivering action and dialogue. Another nod goes out to Nick Nolte who plays Jimmy's brother Eddie, who's still loves with his mother, he has a scruffy beard, rotting teeth and a tattered old sweater that exposes his disheveled chest. It's like living in the old Irish-community in the trenches of New York.
The movie is situated primarily in the Brooklyn-Queens area of New York where the inhabitants are living near an industrial area. There were a bit of errors in geography and through timeline, but Collet-Serra handles the situation cautiously. The action is set on a rainy December night while this is going on Rangers game is happening at MSG which becomes a focal plot point.
Unless winter is arriving late, winter thunderstorms in NYC in December seems surreal, but the detailed landscape of the Big Apple is quite nuanced. Like when Jimmy unlocks a car door with a shoelace or when he scopes out the pub where he terminates every one of Maguire's thugs. These moments are priceless. And sure many will say that it's another long line of Liam Neeson's action films, but to me it truly stands as one of his best.
Collet-Serra and Neeson are not strangers to one another as they collaborated in two films before this one "Unknown" (2011) and "Non- Stop" (2014) which exhibits beyond Neeson's physique but his vulnerability matched with his mournful gravitas. Neeson plays Jimmy Conlon, a pathetic chump placed in embarrassing predicament by playing Santa Claus at a Christmas party led by his old boss Shawn Maguire (Ed Harris) and even that he still manages to screw up at that. At one time, Conlon was an established hit-man who has lost his touch and now spends his time gulping down Jameson's at pub where he and Maguire hung out and together they would paint the town red in blood.
One night Shawn's son Danny (Boyd Holbrook) attempted to murder Jimmy's son Mike (Joel Kinnaman), but in the end Jimmy kills Danny instead, leading for vengeful night of pure anarchy in the span of one night. Suddenly overnight, Jimmy's trigger-finger is resurrected and the blood party is now in full gear.
One of the best things about this movie is that the plot never meanders and Collet-Serra's direction sticks to the point. At times his focus is primarily to get each of his shots to the very last detail while succeeding in keeping it legible, even the sky view of the repeated helicopter are revived from the clichéd jagged abbreviation.
The effects of this movie is simply breath-taking. The car chases going by way of the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway through the bustling traffic on Jamaica Avenue and directly into a storefront as it flowed through the escarpment of utter chaos. It seems like Collet-Serra took pages out of the books of classic crime action directors from the 1970's like William Friedkin and Walter Hill while never showing any disloyalty along the way. I give a nod to Hill because the fisticuffs in the subway bathroom is reminiscent to the 1979 film "The Warriors" though Collet-Serra adds asphyxiation with the help of hand-towel.
Other symbolic set-pieces like visual anchors or the flaming torches are esoterically used for points of reference as to where all the exciting action is going to take place. Both of those scene center around Andrew Price (Common) a killer-for hire who terminates cops and until he showed up, the body count was fairly minimal. And sure the movie may not always be coherent, Collet-Serra still succeeds in maintaining realism and keeping every situation plausible.
When it comes to casting Collet-Serra has remained concrete in terms of casting decisions. And by hiring reputable performers, he demands that his cast embody and unusual conviction towards each other. For example there is great chemistry between Neeson and Harris and they both never looked better and their acting is both elevated in terms of delivering action and dialogue. Another nod goes out to Nick Nolte who plays Jimmy's brother Eddie, who's still loves with his mother, he has a scruffy beard, rotting teeth and a tattered old sweater that exposes his disheveled chest. It's like living in the old Irish-community in the trenches of New York.
The movie is situated primarily in the Brooklyn-Queens area of New York where the inhabitants are living near an industrial area. There were a bit of errors in geography and through timeline, but Collet-Serra handles the situation cautiously. The action is set on a rainy December night while this is going on Rangers game is happening at MSG which becomes a focal plot point.
Unless winter is arriving late, winter thunderstorms in NYC in December seems surreal, but the detailed landscape of the Big Apple is quite nuanced. Like when Jimmy unlocks a car door with a shoelace or when he scopes out the pub where he terminates every one of Maguire's thugs. These moments are priceless. And sure many will say that it's another long line of Liam Neeson's action films, but to me it truly stands as one of his best.