Run All Night 2015 (Movie Review)

Dir: Jaum Collette-Serra
Cast: Liam Neeson, Joel Kinnaman, Ed Harris
Duration: 1 hr 54 mins
Rating: 2/5
PG: Quite a bit of foul language used.

It’s a pretty old tale dressed in a shabby new garb. It’s a story we all have heard about in different forms. Gang wars, mafia, drug lords and the like, you know what kind of film this is going to be. Well, it follows a similar story line too. Jimmy Conlon (Liam Neeson), was a mean shot in his heyday. Now, all he does is down glasses of whiskey and try to forget his sinful past. He’s the right-hand man of a powerful kingpin, Shawn Maguire (Ed Harris),who is also his good friend.

Shawn’s son gets entangled in a sticky mess when he kills two members of another gang. Things get personal when he goes after Jimmy’s son, Michael (Joel Kinnaman) who was a witness to the crime. Jimmy is estranged from his son thanks to his profession. So, Michael isn’t too happy when he comes knocking with protection. Danny (Boyd Holbrook) makes his way to Michael’s house but is terminated by Jimmy just before he can pull the trigger on Michael. Shawn doesn’t take his son’s death very well and warns Jimmy of his wrath. Jimmy is aware of the Shawn's strategy and seeks to foil it and rescue his son from the danger. Up until this point the movie is a drab. But from here things pick up a bit of pace. Caution, they pick up very little pace.

Father and son set out to protect Michael’s family and his life. Racing against time, Jimmy and Michael must kill Shawn to end the madness. The events of that one, eventful, life-changing night form the crux and chunk of the film. Jimmy finishes Shawn but has another major problem to deal with: a professional assassin hired by Shawn. In the climax scene, there is a shootout. Jimmy is severely injured but manages to gather his last ounce of strength and fire his best shot. He succumbs to his injuries and dies the way he lived. His heroic actions help him win back at least a little of his son’s respect and repair the strained bond between them.


The film has similar cinematography to Non-stop, another film which had Jaum as director and Liam in the lead. The old-fashion story line and dragging pace of the film were spoilers. The build-up of the plot was pretty dramatic but the climax was platitudinous. Minimal sound effects didn’t help and the film overall was dry and dull. If all you’re looking for is to kill time hit play on this film.  

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Great Grand Masti 2 (2016) (Movie Review)

Image
Dir: Indra Kumar Starring: Vivek Oberoi, Riteish Deshmukh, Aftab Shivdasani, Urvashi Rautela Dur: 2 hrs 10 mins Genre: Comedy Rating: 1/10 Comment: The jokes, gestures and costumes are sexually suggestive. An absolute waste of time. “What an opening line”, you might think. But to say otherwise would be an absolute lie. This film is in fact, a great grand waste of time. It’s horrible whichever way you look at it. The story is weak and thrives on cheap thrills and sorry jokes. The actresses are no doubt eye-catching but the rest is all a blur. The comedy is in fact tragedy and the film attempts to play on the basest desires of man. It’s unbelievable that actors like Riteish and Vivek would do such a film. I am not a big fan of bollywood but I still feel bad when I see bollywood making films like these. All of a sudden, I see that sex is being propagated through Indian cinema. The views of sex are changing and filmmakers and actors are not hesitating to take on unconvent
Read more

The Challenge of Mercy

Image
Pope Francis has declared this as the year of mercy, and up until now plenty of reflections have been preached and published on mercy. Perhaps each of us too have made our own reflection on the theme of mercy. Since the inauguration of the year, my mind has often reverted to this theme. Every night when I make an examination of conscience, I evaluate myself: my thoughts, words and deeds vis-à-vis mercy. I realize that I am not merciful most of the time and that I resort to do what benefits me over the merciful thing. Pope Francis realized that the Church needed to revisit the theme of mercy; to reflect upon it and put it into practice. Mercy is at the heart of the Gospel. Jesus is the personified revelator of the Father’s mercy. Through his words and deeds he suffused the scent of mercy. His teachings on mercy are appreciated and continue to inspire people even today. The Church itself was founded on mercy: Christ became the expiation for our sins (1 Jn 4:10; Heb 2:17). He for
Read more

Andadhun (2018) [Movie Review]

Image
Dir: Sriram Raghavan Starring: Ayushmann Khurrana, Radhika Apte and Tabu Dur: 2 hrs 18 mins Genre: Black Comedy Crime Thriller Rating: 3/10 I watched this film on good recommendations. It was hailed as one of the best films of 2018. The mystery surrounding the film went well with the mystery that was actually the film itself. I learnt a hard lesson after watching this film and that is not to go by what other’s say about a film. Given Bollywood’s film making standards, I should not have been surprised. Yet, I found myself pleasantly surprised at the end product. Andadhun tells a complex tale of blindness in a world that is not blind even though it appears so. Confused? Well then, watching the film is not going to make it any better. This film is a classical example of postmodern film-making. It is replete with ample plot twists that don’t allow you to settle into its tricky narrative. Just when you think you have it all figured out, a new twist emerges and challe
Read more