Cinema Reviews

Run All Night Review

• 12th Mar 2015

Liam Neeson teams up for a third time with his Unknown/ Non-stop director for another bout of thriller fun, this time roping in the likes of Joel Kinneman and Ed Harris to join them.

Jackie (Neeson) is an over the hill, drunk ex-hitman. His son Mike (Kinneman) will have nothing to do with him and keeps his own wife and kids away from him. But one night when Mike is working (as a limo driver) he is witness to a murder committed by Frank, the son of local crime boss Shawn (Ed Harris).  It just so happens that Shawn is who Jackie used to work for. When Frank tries to take out Mike, Jackie is forced to make a move to protect his son, and then both of them are forced together in order to survive the night (in which they are forced on the run!).

Neeson and Collet-Serra top both of their previous movies together, and the trick this time is that they have utilised the supporting cast as best they can. Whereas perhaps Julianne Moore was overlooked and underused in Non-Stop, they make sure to make the most of Ed Harris and Joel Kinneman.

Ok so maybe Vincent D’Onofrio and Bruce McGill are given a thankless roles that could have been given a little more weight to them, but with so many other characters to juggle, and this being a mid-budget thriller – the result is always entertaining and rarely plodding as “on the run” thrillers tend to end up.

Anyone who is a fan of Neeson in action mode will likely rank this one higher than most of his recent efforts.

Steven Hurst