A Walk Among the Tombstones

A while back I did a post that looked at some of Liam Neeson's action flicks and how this genre has dominated his career of late. Following one of his latest entries earlier this year, he's made noise that he might soon be done with the genre altogether but it has offered us some old-fashioned and entertaining, yet sometimes forgettable, movies from time to time. However, he did stray from this path in 2014 with the neo-noir A Walk Among the Tombstones where he stars as former cop now private detective, based on a 1990s book of the same name.

I didn't give the film too much notice at the time of release but it did stand-out to me when writing my Movie Marathon article about Neeson. On the surface it looked like it could be another one of his usual hard-man revenge tales but even those can be entertaining given how committed he usually is to each project and the darker angle the trailer showed convinced me it was worth recording when it came on TV recently.

The story starts with him in a rough-and-tumble supposedly Irish bar in Brooklyn as he silently orders his morning coffee and two shots. 'Here we go', I thought sarcastically when several non-white youths enter and kill the barman which results in a swift shootout. Neeson comes off as the tough cop who 'isn't afraid of a fight' cliche but then the story jumps ahead and this is where AWATT takes an unexpected turn. Clean shaven and no longer on the booze, he's head-hunted by Dan Stevens' drug trafficker to look into the disappearance and grisly murder of his wife. Again, I thought I could sense where the story would go next but director Scott Frank successfully crafts a solid neo-noir that kept me engaged through until the end.

AWATT also succeeds as a great vehicle for Neeson offering a different side to his usual action man style. The downbeat private detective who's seen one too many rainy days isn't anything original but he does bring life and a touch of humour to the role. His scenes with TJ (Brian "Astro" Bradley) add character and keep the film exciting. Dan Stevens also stands-out in a role that could be the villain for any other film but he holds the accent well (coming from a Brit), and I can see where the calls for him being the next James Bond are coming from.

Films like this aren't made for awards, and the grimmer aspects seen here will put some people off. AWATT isn't the most original as crime films go but it offers enough to satisfy viewers without falling into cliches. If you like your noirs mixed in with an element of the 1970s gritty crime films finished with a bit of Neeson, you will enjoy.