Although his role here is not substantially different from his other recent performances, Liam Neeson proves ones again that he has the grounded authority and gravitas needed to elevate just about any film. "A Walk Among The Tombstones" is hardly a masterpiece. It lies somewhere between average and good, with Neeson keeping it from falling into the former category.
Neeson plays a private detective, formerly a police officer, and with the type of tragic backstory that seems to go hand in hand with cinematic law enforcement. He is hired to track down the criminals who kidnapped and collected ransom for the wife of a drug trafficker (Dan Stevens, about as far from his "Downton Abbey" role as he could get), but killed her anyway. The story from this point on is fairly straightforward. It's almost more of an atmospheric piece as Neeson slogs through a world whose horrors no longer seem able to surprise him. This isn't the most interesting character he's ever played, but there's enough for him to work with, and Neeson is always worth watching as an actor. His sometimes wry, sometimes aggressive (and sometimes both) sense of humor does provide a few laughs.
I was particularly impressed by two things this movie got right that many films get wrong. The first is that it allows Neeson's character to be an alcoholic without suffering a relapse during the film. Most times a film makes reference to a character's alcoholism early on, you know this will come into play later when they'll throw years of sobriety out the window at whatever point it would most heighten the drama to do so. Neeson doesn't do that. His character's alcoholism and attendance at AA meetings is an important layer of his character, not a cheap plot device (the next film I'll be reviewing fell into the usual trap, and is what made me take notice of how well this film had handled it). The second thing "A Walk Among the Tombstones" got right, against all odds, is that it managed to include a kid sidekick who wasn't incredibly annoying. Instead, he had a believable relationship with Neeson, and helped add even more layers (as well as some likeability) to the main character. Usually kids who follow around the lead character, insistent on helping out, are meant to be "charmingly precocious" but end up being the worst, most irritating part of the film. It's done right so rarely that this film's success is a true accomplishment.
The film doesn't have the most interesting storyline you'll ever see, a side effect of trying to maintain a tone of grounded realism instead of opting for shocking plot twists and revelations. But if you're going to see a movie that focuses more on a character in a drab world than it does on surprises, you could do a lot worse than have that character be played by Liam Neeson. The man has the ability to command the camera's attention no matter what he's doing. That no longer needs to be proven, but he keeps proving it just the same.
B
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