A Walk Among the Tombstones (2014)

Liam Neeson towers in this film, very believable and a brooding presence of regretfulness and one making a living without a path anymore in life but one whose street savvy and street instincts are still honed.

While still living with a moral code, his past and need to look out for the small guy, gets him dragged into a case where there are elements playing from various side, and one which raises a question on to what you should or should not do in the case of kidnappings, with Scudder(Neeson) showing how to take control and push forward.

This is a great detective thriller, keeps you engrossed, great script, strong acting and thoroughly enjoyable and

Fmovies:  This film is mildly recommended. That accomplished Irish actor, Liam Neeson, sidestepped a distinguished Broadway stage career (Anna Christie, The Judas Kiss, The Crucible) for the allure of the big screen. After successful roles in diverse films like Nell, Rob Roy, Michael Collins, Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace, Kinsey, and his peak performance in Schindler's List, he found his niche as an action hero, a sort of everyday common man facing one crisis after the next, just bordering on, but not quite, the superhero. Most moviegoers seem to enjoy this screen persona and his recent acting choices in these conventional thrillers. A Walk Among the Tombstones is another one of these exercises in the action genre with mostly entertaining results. Neeson plays Matt Scudder, a disgraced ex-cop and now P.I. who is hired by a drug dealer (Dan Stevens, taking a giant leap from his Matthew Crawley character from Downton Abbey) to find his wife's killer and exact revenge. Along the way, our solemn hero runs into many unsavory characters, violent encounters, and gruesome murders. His investigation also lead him to a runaway sidekick named T.J. (Brian "Astro" Bradley) who idolizes the detective genre and talks of Sam Spade and Phillip Marlowe. As moviegoers, we are suppose to connect that association with our modern crusader, but there's really no parallel in comparison. Their relationship seems forced and lacks credibility. Their sparing is only there as a plot device to move the action along. A Walk Among the Tombstones holds one's interest, especially in its first hour, as Scudder tries to unravel the killings and the motives for the crimes, but midway, the guilty parties are revealed and the gripping mystery never picks up the pace from there. Instead, the film becomes just another predictable and somewhat dull crime thriller with murder and mayhem overtaking the plot. There are moments of real suspense due to the solid direction by Scott Frank, but his screenplay has some leaps of logic throughout the film. Also, unexplained events during the climactic showdown never quite fall into place. One expects some twists or sudden revelation, but it's all routine procedure and not completely satisfying. Neeson is effective and bring much authority to his role. Adam David Thompson and especially David Harbour are eerily believable as menacing and crazed villains. Ólafur Darri Ólafsson and Eric Nelsen offer strong support in smaller roles. A Walk Among the Tombstones is a grim tale of murder and violence that rambles to its ultimate conclusion when it should strive for more. GRADE: B-

Greetings again from the darkness. Welcome to the annual off-season gift from Liam Neeson. Seemingly every year, he provides us with a February or September release that requires his particular set of tough guy skills. This time, he plays Matthew Scudder - of the popular Lawrence Block crime novel series (17 books).

Director Scott Frank (The Lookout) works to create a 1970's feel, although the film opens up as a flashback to 1991, and quickly fast forwards to 1999 NYC. There are no shortage of clichés here, but nothing is over the top; and the bleak, somber, usually rainy setting establishes the tone that fits with "unlicensed" private detective Scudder's preferred method of living and detecting.

Of course, Scudder is a recovering alcoholic and former cop, with a tragic, careless incident on his record and conscience. The film is so ever-bleak, that the moments of humor ... though often awkward and out of place ... are quite welcome. The only shining light of innocence comes courtesy of a sharp homeless kid named TJ, played by Brian "Astro" Bradley. TJ is a Philip Marlowe wannabe, and quickly assumes the role of Scudder's partner/intern/IT Department.

Bad guys are everywhere. Even the serial killers (David Harbour, Adam David Thompson) target the family members of criminals, so as to minimize the involvement of the proper authorities. As an improper authority, we can't ask for better than Liam Neeson. He works for "favors", not a paycheck.

Other support work comes courtesy of Dan Stephens ("Downton Abbey"), Boyd Holbrook, and creepy cemetery groundskeeper (is there another type?) Olafur Darri Olafsson, who creates yet another memorable character with limited screen time (see "True Detective").

Mr. Neeson gets plenty of telephone action, which plays right into the strength of Taken, and it's pretty amazing how much WALKING he does throughout the story. He looks great walking in his duster, but it seems a bicycle would be more efficient ... though admittedly, much less daunting. As a whole, though the movie is probably a bit familiar, it's the little details and the powerful Liam Neeson that makes it a welcome late summer release.

A Walk Among the Tombstones fmovies. In 1991, In New York, Matt Scudder (Liam Neeson) is an alcoholic police detective. In 1999, Scudder is retired from the police and is a private investigator without license. When his comrade Peter Kristo (Boyd Holbrook) from the rehab invites him to visit his brother Kenny Kristo (Dan Stevens), who is a drug dealer, Scudder learns that Kenny's wife Ann Carrie Kristo (Razane Jammal) had been abducted and cut into pieces by the kidnappers. Now Kenny wants to find the killer to revenge. Scudder initially refuses the case but then he accepts to investigate. Soon he finds that the killers have murdered other women connected to drug dealers and they get their files from the DEA. When the fourteen year-old daughter of a drug dealer is also kidnapped, Scudder heads up a group to rescue the teenager.

"A Walk among the Tombstones" is a gloomy crime film developed in slow pace, but with a complex story. The plot is realistic and the viewer follows Scudder investigation. The screenplay does not have a plot point with surprising revelations or action scenes; indeed it is indeed old- fashioned. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Caçada Mortal" ("Deadly Hunt")

Liam Neeson, astute gentleman, legendary Jedi, and assassin who can hunt anyone down who takes his family. Yet Hollywood seems to focus on the latter, not deviating from the stoic man who can rip armies of murderers asunder and come out swinging. This weekend, yet another story is told about our leading action actor, entitled A Walk Among The Tombstones. Seeing the trailers earlier this summer, I got chills at the darkness and mystery the tale promised. If you know me by now though, there is always the skepticism of being let down by the actual film. What does this movie have in store? Read on to uncover the details.

We know that Liam Neeson can act the part of the sullen, rogue agent who defies all the rules and limits other cops seem to have. Once again, he is back still able to bring the smolder filled face of justice to the dark underbelly of whatever setting he's in. This film though goes one stop further down the dark hole, having Neeson dive into the darker pits of his soul to face the internal and external demons. He pulls it off flawlessly, almost as if he faces the very challenges in real life. Helping to support Mr. Neeson, is a variety of people, though we will only focus on a few others to spare room for other aspects. Providing comedic relief, and an outlet from his character's darkness is Astro, who has had a growth spurt since Echo. Astro has got a mouth, and thinks he is tough kid who knows the way of the world, yet gets a lesson about just how little he knows. He's funny, he's cocky, and Astro pulls off the immature role to the letter. Yet it's the two killers of Ray (David Harbour) and Albert (Adam David Thompson) who really mix well with Liam. Harbour's ability to play the insane serial killer is quite well executed in his delivery of threats and the tone of his voice. As for Thompson, he captures the menacing glare down pat, and knows some stage combat, but aside from that not much in store.

I'm sure you're saying though, I don't really care about the acting. How is the story? Well in a one word summary it is dark. It is also one of the more disturbing plots I've seen, that didn't cross into the soul destroying area. A Walk Among the Tombstones brings tension to the audience throughout the entire film in the hunting of the two disturbed beings. The hunt is in the form of heavy detective work involving talking to suspects, retracing footsteps and trying to piece information together. For once, the mystery has a bit of realism to it, forgoing the convenient pieces of information, for a process that involves actually working for clues. As the movie progresses, the ambiguous nature and seemingly simple motive starts to reveal itself. With each new clue, the mentality of the perpetrators becomes clearer, almost like one is watching an episode of Criminal Minds. Yet the unstable psyche and constant calls of the psychos continue to reestablish the terror of what will happen next. Sure, you have a good idea of what the outcomes will be, but there is just enough uncertainty to have you doubting your thoughts.

Mixed into the bag is some character development amongst the various players in the game, each with their own set of dark secrets that explains why they are scarred for life. Some of these points are relevant, but the mistake here is that they are played over and over again as they build up to the revelation, one of which you already know from the trailers. Other plot elements though are not so relevant or as big as they thought. Some hasty conn

Ahh yes...the time has come for one of my fairly recent favorite traditions...the annual release of a Liam Neeson movie where he is just being a bad a**. Ever since "Taken", the world has been re- introduced to Neeson as it's newest and truest action hero. For the most part during this little resurrection for Neeson, you know that despite any flaws the film might have, it ends up being great entertainment regardless and you overlook those things. The only minor grievance that one might have during this tradition, is that as much as you don't want to admit it, some of these Neeson movies just aren't as good.

Now before we go any further we have to discuss the exact trend of the Neeson films. I am only including the movies where Neeson is, for the most part, the only star and he is playing some grizzled, world weary, growling bad a** with a checkered past. This exempts movies like "The A-Team", "Clash/Wrath of the Titans", and ugh...."Battleship".....dear lord that was terrible....although it it is always nice to see Rihanna trying to be a bad a**, "Aloha, mother f***er!". Anyway, you get the picture. As for the examples of slightly less awesome Neeson bad a** movies, these are the ones like "Unknown", and some may even say "Non-Stop" but I actually enjoyed that one.

"A Walk Among the Tombstones" falls into that category. Many will go into this movie looking to see Neeson kicking dudes a**es left and right and they may be sorrily disappointed. "Tombstones" is more about the detective story and the darkness that the characters descend into as the film progresses. Neeson plays Matt Scudder, a retired cop/alcoholic turned P.I. after a case 8 years ago that left him emotionally and psychologically scarred. He is brought to meet drug dealer (excuse me, "trafficker") Kenny Kristo (worse drug kingpin name ever?) who wants to hire him to find the two men who kidnapped and murdered his wife despite paying them the money they asked for. Scudder, along with a spunky, homeless kid T.J, fish around for clues. Their relationship is interesting at first because it's unclear as to why Scudder continues to come into contact with this kid besides the fact that perhaps by helping this kid, he can make up for a lot of sins he has committed in his past.

The film can be slow at times, but Neeson is almost in every scene and his presence alone keeps you engaged in every step he takes. As you get closer and closer to the truth the film gets more disturbing. This film is unnerving for sure and is a mental disturbance more than anything. Even though it may not be as action packed as some of Neesons' past films (The Grey still doesn't get enough love) but it may be a pleasant surprise for other reasons. One of Americas guilty pleasures is loving serial killers (Dexter, The Killing, Hannibal, films and series, Se7en, etc.) so people may actually enjoy the film but for a completely different reason then they previously thought.

Oh, and don't worry, Liam still has some clever "bad a** one-liners" keeping up with the tradition...Can't wait till next year.

I joyously await your criticism for my overuse of bad a**.

6/10.