Liam Neeson may have concluded his action trilogy Taken earlier in 2015 but arguably his best film in some time came and went in 2014 with little fanfare. A Walk Among The Tombstones may not have been the best film of 2014, not even by a long shot, but it was Neeson’s best film that exposed something Hollywood has been fairly awful at for some time: the R-rated action thriller.
Simple premise. Matt Scudder (Neeson) is an unlicensed private investigator after he walked away from his career in the NYPD. When a heroin trafficker (Dan Stevens) hires him to solve the kidnapping and subsequent murder of his wife, Scudder wades into something far more serious and sinister than he thought going in.
Overlooked in an otherwise down year, this is perfectly acceptable genre work all over. This is a film that embraces an R-rating with no qualms; it would’ve been significant to tackle this down to a PG-13 and it’s not a bad thing. It’s gruff, intense and gritty, which is nice from an action thriller these days. This is a film that knows its delving into some dark territory and has no qualms wallowing in the muck & mire of it all. Some films try to handle material like this, of brutal kidnapping and murder, with delicate gloves meant to shield the viewer from the harshness of the material. A Walk Among the Tombstones lets you know right away that its not going to shy away from the harshness of its material.
It’s a brilliant film, however, as it grinds in that “perfectly acceptable” level of film making for long enough to keep it good but not great. There isn’t anything brilliant about the film; there’s an awful lot of good but this is a film stuck in that “Good” gear that can’t push it into that next tier. There is just enough to keep you hooked, and enough to make it a worthy film of a watch, but this isn’t a film that has that final gear. It’s comparable to Gone Girl but without that extra gear to turn it from something perfunctory and solid into something special.
A pair of EPK pieces are included
Universal presents A Walk Among the Tombstones. Directed by Scott Frank. Written by Scott Frank, based on the novel by Lawrence Block. Starring Liam Neeson, Dan Stevens, David Harbour, Boyd Holbrook, Adam David Thompson, Brian Bradley. Run Time: 113 minutes Rated R. Released on DVD: 1.13.15
