I don't really need much encouragement to see a Liam Neeson film. Okay, so his back-catalogue of movies has had a fair few misses as well as hits (I'm looking at you, Unknown and The Grey), but films I love him in such as Taken and Non-Stop are more than enough to convince me that this actor is actually a talent and despite being relatively typecast, does still make some good'uns.
Unfortunately for me, I think this blind admiration for Neeson may have shot me in the foot when it came to his latest drama. Despite many people telling me it looked a bit naff, I refused to listen and wandered into the cinema with a spring in my step to see A Walk Among The Tombstones.
When an attempted robbery turns violent in the bar he's in, police officer Matt Scudder acts without thinking, hellbent on catching the criminals, leading to him making some questionable decisions. Afterward, realising his drink problem is beginning to affect his ability to do his job properly, he hands in his resignation. Now months later and amongst AA meetings, he makes a little money here and there doing private investigation work, despite not having the badge or authority to do so.
Because of this, he's often sought out by unsavoury characters who are looking for help but don't necessarily want to go to the police for said assistance. One of those people is Kenny Kristo, a drug kingpin who hires Scudder to investigate the kidnapping of his wife and punish those responsible. The criminals asked for a ransom but even when Kristo gave them the money, they ruthlessly killed her anyway and the pressure is on when Scudder soon discovers that Kristo may not be the only man that these people have targeted.
A Walk Among The Tombstones reminded me very much in style and somewhat, story of 2011 film Prisoners which saw Hugh Jackman play a desperate Dad that goes to extreme measures to discover what happened to his missing daughter, alongside suspicious detective Jake Gyllenhaal. Both films are dark and heavily rooted in the subjects of abduction and human reaction but Prisoners does it so much better. Everything that Tombstones lacked but so desperately needed, things like character development, mystery and motive were there in abundance in Prisoners and it was the comparison of these two movies in my mind that made me so disappointed in Neeson's latest venture.
What struck me as one of the most obvious flaws of A Walk Among The Tombstones was that for a film with such serious and disturbing subject matter, they attempted to inject humour into parts and personally, I thought that was a real mistake. A little way into the film Scudder meets a boy named TJ (The X Factor US's Astro) who becomes almost like a partner in his investigation. One who provides about 95% of the comedic scenes. He seemed like a completely unnecessary character and whilst he acted as a mildly amusing sidekick to brooding Scudder, it really didn't match the whole style of the rest of the film.
It appeared that the filmmakers included young TJ to provide some comedic relief to viewers when the heavy stuff got a little too, well, heavy. But it was the movie's inability to really allow itself to go into those gritty, dark places that lost it some of its potency and impact.
The fact that the film had no suspense for a crime film was in my opinion, almost unforgivable. It is essential to have that in a film of this vain or else you don't really have a film at all. It made for a very slow-burning story where you didn't really care where it was going because you could already guess what was going to happen. It had no suspense because the plot was completely jumbled and didn't seem to have a linear pattern. One minute one person's wife was missing, then another one, then you're building up to an ending focussed on someone else's loved one. You didn't have time to build a connection with anyone and therefore, certainly weren't on the edge of your seat wondering what will happen.
In addition, very early on in the film, the good guys discover that the bad guys don't really play by the usual 'I ask for a ransom, you give me the money, I give you the girl' mantra very well, so you don't even have the suspense of that to keep you going. There's no "will they? Won't they?". They just will, and unfortunately, you know it 15 minutes in.
Following on from that, whether this was actually down to the screenplay, or editing I'm not too sure, but another major mishap A Walk Among The Tombstones seemed to make was not giving any kind of backstory to ANY character. Not once did we understand why the characters were doing what they were doing and having a lack of motive particularly in a film like this makes for a very boring few hours. Why were the bad guys kidnapping and killing women? Did they have a connection to them? Why were they only targeting drug dealers? What was their motive? Having seen the film, I am completely none the wiser.
Finally, the film appeared as if it where trying to present some kind of moral to the audience, only what that moral exactly was, I couldn't tell you. It made Scudder's drink problem of great importance and seemed to be drawing attention to that but surely the only point they were trying to make wasn't simply "don't be a drunk"? It also had strong references to drug smuggling and dealing, with the kidnappers specifically targeting people in that line of work but it would seem odd for the filmmakers intentions to make you feel sorry for these kinds of people? Hardly the most innocent of the bunch, eh!
Director Scott Frank has been involved in a couple of my favourite thrillers of all time. The Interpreter and Malice were probably the first films I ever watched as a kid that really gave me a taste of what a slightly darker, twisty movie could really be and I fell in love with the genre. But he was involved in the screenplay of both mentioned films. When he is directing as well however, I'm evidently not so much of a fan and it's a shame knowing that he does possess talent to mould an excellent thriller!
In spite of all my rather scathing negatives, the performances despite not being given much to work with are good all round (and I'm not just saying that because I'm evidently a hardcore Liam fan). Downton Abbey's Dan Stevens presents Kristo with the perfect balance of potentially dangerous menace and quiet calm whilst also making it believable that he truly loved his wife.
David Harbour and Adam David Thompson were undoubtedly creepy as kidnappers Ray and Albert and played the brains and the showman very well. But the pair seemed to lose their edge only moments before the crescendo of "drama" at the end of the movie. But I'd be more inclined to blame the incredibly rushed ending rather than their acting abilities.
So all in all, I'll think a little harder next time before I go into a film thinking it's going to be amazing just because I happen to like a specific actor that's starring in it. That criteria alone doesn't mean it's going to be good. Perhaps if I hadn't psyched myself up as much as I had beforehand, I would have been a little more lenient to how good a movie this one actually is. It had SOME good points. It's cinematography was interesting and a little different, leaning more towards techniques used in more independent movies and that added to the raw and gritty nature of the piece but in terms of story, it was all completely missing.
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