Run All Night (2015)

thereviewers
Aug 18, 2015
3 min read

Run All Night is a neo-noir thriller that outlines how mobster Jimmy Conlon (Liam Neeson) has one night to figure out where his loyalties lie after he kills the son of Shawn Maguire (Ed Harris), a prominent mob boss. As the night unfolds Jimmy must decide whether to side with his estranged son, Mike (Joel Kinnaman), whose life is now in danger, or with his lifetime friend Shawn and turn his own son over to save his neck.

Overall Review Score

4 out of 10

Review

Run All Night is a 2015, 114-minute, neo-noir thriller that had the potential to be a gripping, intense story of two mobsters who engage in a night-time game of cat and mouse across New York. However, the film, sadly, comes across as a haphazard affair that has multiple plot holes that ultimately fails to engage with the audience or leave up to its premise. While Liam Neeson adopts his usual personae of an overtly aggressive, protective dad with good effect and is supported by Ed Harris’s portrayal of a mobster who is determined to exact revenge after his son is killed – which gives the films its gritty undertone – the other characters comes across as somewhat lifeless and one-dimensional. For example, the characters played by Vincent D’Onofrio and Joel Kinnaman seem to add no value to the film and are just there as ‘background dressing’ to justify some parts of films convoluted storyline. Away from this, Run All Night provides the audience with limited entertainment as its poorly executed use of scene cuts / transitions coupled with the films poorly choreographed the action scenes that are quickly forgotten as the predictable story unfolds. Overall, Run All Night is a film that just does not gel. It is a film that audiences should watch if they want an action movie with an over abundance of fight scenes that offers very little else. However, for filmgoers looking for a heart pounding, intense, gritty neo-noir film that will leave them fully satisfied will be disappointed by this film.

Reviewer 1's score & comments:

Score: 3 out of 10

Comments:

Run All Night had all the requirements to be a sleek and entertaining mob thriller, but falls short of the mark. Upon watching the film it is evident that the story is very lacking in certain regards, and was full of very questionable plot holes, such as, why does Jimmy Conlon have only 24 hours to decide whether to protect his son or not? Further to this, the actors performances came across as generic and uninteresting, which really lowered the overall tone of the film, and last but not least the frequent use of wide angle pan-outs and transition shots were entirely unneeded and did nothing but distract from the predictable storyline.

Reviewer 2's score & comments:

Score: 5 out of 10

Comments:

Run All Night is a neo-noir thriller that pits Ed Harris against Liam Neeson with an interesting result. On one hand, Liam Neeson – who plays a partially drunk, estranged father who becomes overtly aggressive to protect his family – helps move the film along at a reasonable pace through his entertaining, up-tempo fight scenes. However, on the other hand, the film suffers from some noticeable problems. Firstly, the film has a overtly convoluted and poorly executed script that is essentially a series of back and forth fight scenes occasionally interspersed with dialogue, which makes the role of Detective Harding (Vincent O’Onofrio) somewhat pointless and causes the film to lack the prerequisite twists and turns expected of a modern thriller. Secondly, the film is full of ‘friends turned enemy’ clichés and seems out of proportion for what has actually happened in the script. Overall, Run All Night attempts to inject some life into the neo-noir genre, which is does competently, but its poorly constructed script causes the film to run out of stamina about half into the films runtime. Ultimately, it is a watchable film that audiences will enjoy. However, it is one that will quickly be forgotten once the credits have rolled.