In recent years, Liam Neeson has made a name for himself in action movies. While none of these are fantastic movies (I’m looking at you, “Taken” sequels) there is always something that is done well enough to make them watchable, besides being entertaining popcorn flicks.
“Run All Night” tells the story of former mob enforcer, Jimmy Conlon (Neeson), who is still haunted by all those that he’s killed, and is trying to connect with his son, Michael (Joel Kinnaman), who has excluded Jimmy from his life due to all the murder and crime he committed. But after a run- in with the wrong crowd, Michael has no choice but to trust his father, who fights to protect him from Jimmy’s old boss and close friend Shawn Macguire (Ed Harris).
And that’s really all I can say about the plot without giving too much away. Granted, this is a B action movie, so there’s nothing too deep about it. However, it is engaging to watch how the plot starts to unfold, connecting these characters spread out over New York City. I am a sucker for Neeson action movies, so I always go into them with the expectations of a fun, dumb action movie but when the characters and plot are handled as well as this, it gets bonus points.
While the connected character plot is fun to watch, the best part of “Run All Night” is the relationship between Jimmy and Michael and how it is perfectly foiled by the relationship between Macguire and his son. It is a very real relationship that is believable and acted out on screen pretty well.
The movie has some moments developing the friendship between Jimmy and Shawn, giving it a good bit of character writing.
There is a surprising amount of heart going on between the main characters, and that makes “Run All Night” all the more watchable because you care about what will happen to Jimmy and Michael, whether they’ll get killed or if Michael will trust his dad again.
Apart from all the shooting and fistfights expected from an action movie, there are a couple of pretty fun fight scenes sprinkled throughout the movie. But as said before, the main characters are done very well. And I emphasize “main” characters, because there are a couple side characters that fall flat or into typical action movie staples and don’t compare to the father/son relationships at the forefront.
Do I recommend “Run All Night?” If you’re a Neeson fan, yes. While not his best movie, it’s certainly not his worst. If you’re not a fan of Neeson but still want to see it, there’s a decent-at-best movie here. Your time won’t be wasted.
