Aim low; achieve average; feel awesome: this is Liam Neeson’s recent strategy for choosing roles. Your enjoyment of Scott Frank’s A Walk Among the Tombstones will depend heavily upon your expectations. What do you want out of a Liam Neeson thriller?
Neeson’s recent flicks never surprise me; they all have inherent b-movie fun that leaves me neither completely enthralled nor entirely bored. I have seen him kick butt so many times, in so many different places, in so many different ways, and in so many different movies (Non- Stop, Unknown, and Taken, to name a few) that I expect this trademark.
In this film, Neeson plays Matt Scudder, a cop who shoots three thugs as they’re holding up a bar. He is drunk during the entire ordeal and accidentally kills a seven year old girl. Skip ahead seven years and Matt is retired. He is sober and attending AA meetings. He is introduced to a drug trafficker whose wife has been kidnapped. Matt investigates this disappearance and finds that the abductors have done this more than once.
Prima facie, the film appears to have the same conventions, clichés, and genre tropes of Neeson’s other recent films, but this one managed to subvert nearly every one of those prejudices; the atmospheric settings and lead character’s heavy conscience kept me pinned to the edge of my seat. Tombstones is a character piece disguised as a crime mystery that, in its climactic shootout, ignores the action in favour of exploring the cryptic themes and ambiguity of the protagonist. Expect something more akin to David Fincher’s Seven or Zodiac, with an additional hint of self-awareness.
It’s surprising that the actor who showed remarkable dramatic chops in Schindler’s List is now a fierce 60-year old action star. Here he draws from both the nuanced and pulpy portions of his career to deliver a performance that is his best since 2011’s underrated The Grey.
Where in Neeson’s other films we don’t flinch at the sight of him shooting an evil dude’s brains out, here we are jarred and reflect on the sight because it so rarely occurs. It’s like a horror movie where the horrors aren’t dismissible supernaturalism, but rather the characters’ debilitating addictions, situations, and decisions. The slow pace will annoy many with false expectations, but those willing to surrender themselves over will probably find themselves shaken and immersed.
Scott Frank’s stylized direction keeps the film interesting even when the plot in the midsection becomes monotonous (we follow Matt from clue to clue over and over again). He often shoots with wide compositions which highlight the gloomy setting and transport us into the auras of the backwards New York City sights: a rooftop, a graveyard, and a rundown diner. All of it screams of a world losing its hope and morality. The film’s setting is reminiscent of the twisted worlds of classic pot boiling noirs.
My expectations were subverted and exceeded. Go in with an open mind and no false expectations and I think yours will be too.
