Liam Neeson had a bizarre rebirth as an action star thanks to 2008's Taken, where he played a retired special forces operative who cuts a bloody path through Paris to rescue his kidnapped daughter. Albert inspects the money and discovers some were counterfeit. People are afraid of all the wrong things. PREVIEW. Scudder, Kenny, Landau, Peter, and TJ drive to the cemetery. The killers buy a guy drinks to better pump him for information. In 1991 New York, Matt Scudder is an alcoholic police detective. Matt Scudder used to be a cop. During the final confrontation, Albert uses this as a garrotte to kill Ray and Kenny, and nearly kills Scudder except the muzzle of his pistol gets caught in the loop, preventing the wire from cutting through Scudder's throat. 5. In 'The Grey', a movie completely steered away from the idea of crime, he was still a pretty knowledgeable badass who could kill if he needed. Get the freshest reviews, news, and more delivered right to your inbox! An unlicensed PI who lives in a bare, cheerless apartment, Scudder (Liam Neeson) doesn't want the job of hunting them down when he realizes that the latest victim's husband (Dan Stevens, of Downton. This horrible outcome helps us understand why Matt steps away from police work, alcohol and guns all at once. Even though he received a commendation, he quit his job as a cop and he gave up alcohol. Sign Up: Stay on top of the latest breaking film and TV news! Once Scudder questions him and he tells Scudder what happened, he's worried they'll find out and do the same to him as they did to their victims. Stay on top of the latest breaking film and TV news! Jenna Ortega Will Dance, Dance, Dance With the Weeknd. Conclusion Slim, blond types (one bland, the other goateed), they recall the gay Nazi-like killers in Michael Haneke's American remake of his sadistic art-movie Funny Games. Get The Latest IndieWire Alerts And Newsletters Delivered Directly To Your Inbox. They be putting the money in the trunk an sittin up front, so they aint even gone look in the back. Firstly, there is no shootout in the graveyard, a sequence which seems invented purely for the sake of putting action on the screen. Private investigator Matthew Scudder is hired by a drug kingpin to find out who kidnapped and murdered his wife. Actress Ruth Wilson (Luther) filmed a major supporting role that was later cut as it was felt Scudder needed to be alone. Listen to A Walk Among the Tombstones (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) by Carlos Rafael Rivera on Apple Music. Albert (like Ray) is a sociopathic serial killer with a complete. Nowadays, hes something of a private detective. Its stated that the men rape their victims; we hear a tape recording of a cruelly chuckling man and a crying woman. Sign up for our Email Newsletters here. During a conversation with TJ, Scudder explains why he retired. Loogan arrives and admits that he helped kidnap Leila. Frank and Block are obviously ripping-off the heinous. Scudder refuses. Peter is killed, and Scudder wounds Ray. The girl taken hostage is alive, but not entirely unharmed. Neeson plays Matt Scudder, an ex-cop turned unlicensed private investigator who reluctantly agrees to help a heroin trafficker (Dan Stevens, TV's Downton Abbey) hunt down . Youd cross the street in life if you saw him coming. A Walk Among the Tombstones is a 2014 crime thrillerabout a private investigator who is hired by a drug kingpin to uncover the identities of two sadistic kidnappers who target criminals. But his sentiment certainly doesnt put the brakes on all the bloodletting in this film. Once we get to know him, we realize that Matt is indeed a good guy who regrets and constantly works to atone for his bad past. Instead, the other two tortured and killed her. The haunted title of A Walk Among the Tombstones suggests that one's bigoted reflexes are common, lying just beneath the surface. Oh, hopefully more people contribute to this discussion. Stevens evokes every shade of the self-made drug kingpins thoughts: His hands are tied, but he visibly hungers to wrap them around the killers necks. And there were other little strings, tiny bits and pieces of the story that pleaded to be pulled at and worried over. And while Kenny/Kenan is left there to dispose of Ray, he doesnt wind up getting killed, which seems to be a major studio way of ensuring a drug dealer doesnt become the hero of the movie (while giving Neeson a badass line of dialogue as a result in the ensuing final battle with the villain). A shootout between Matt and a trio of street punks leaves a bartender dead (shot in the chest point-blank with a shotgun). He goes down the basement and sees Kenny's dead body on the stairs (implying that Albert killed Kenny). Once upon a time you could. For our money, wed say for the full Scudder experience youll want the book, but as an abridged version, the film does an adequate if not wholly satisfying job. However, one of Franks most inspired choices was to move the tale up a few years, and play on the pre-millenium tension buzzing in the background. Because this is actually more of a gumshoe investigator's tale, a gritty cop-turned-unlicensed . Albert simply kills him instead. When Scudder reluctantly agrees to help a heroin trafficker (Dan Stevens) hunt down the men who kidnapped and then brutally murdered his wife, the PI learns that this is not the first time these men have committed this sort of twisted crimenor will it be the last. the movie should rated R+ cause it has some pretty seriously gross topics. Their crimes - which include kidnapping and dismembering women - are described in more brutal detail in the book too. Scudder ultimately agrees to help him. Its a bit of a clunky change from the book, and that seems to be Franks way of explaining the otherwise unlikely relationship between a much older white man and a black teenager. After realizing Landau's wife is bedridden, they prepare to leave for a new target. It was not a terrible movie overall, but it is one I wish I hadn't paid for. Shes dead. He likes sitting in bars drinking coffee alongside unsavory characters. Liam Neeson, astute gentleman, legendary Jedi, and assassin who can hunt anyone down who takes his family. PREVIEW. Played straight when Matthew gets into a running gunfight with three gangbangers despite the fact that he was drinking in a bar. As previously mentioned A Walk Among The Tombstones dials up the action from the novel, which includes giving the two main villains more development. Both in the book and film, TJ is urban in the most gauche way possible, complete with street speak, though arguably in Franks film, its a bit more scaled back. Didn't see one posted, so I figured I'd make one. He is about to give up when they grab another girl and Scudder tries make sure she's returned alive. All Rights Reserved. The trailers did kind of spoil a bit. By creating an account, you agree to the Blood covers a kitchen floor and walls, and somebody bleeds out on a stairway. We wont be able to verify your ticket today, but its great to know for the future. For another, it would give The Human Centipede a run for its money. So the changes made by Frank are understandable in that context, but they also make Scudder a less complex, more singularly driven man. Hes fascinated by people who dont have control. A part-time hobby soon blossomed into a career when he discovered he really loved writing about movies, TV and video games; he even (arguably) had a little bit of talent for it. PREVIEW. What saves him is that he doesnt preach. Just below that it reads "Ticket Confirmation#:" followed by a 10-digit number. Im glad they left T.J. out of the trailers, though. These perverse goblins represent the return of the socially repressed. It stars Liam Neeson, Dan Stevens, David Harbour, and Boyd Holbrook. Kenny brings Scudder to Yuri Landau's home, where the kidnappers call and arrange to exchange ransom for Lucia at a cemetery. The first big-screen adaptation of these novels was 1986's 8 Million Ways To Die, which cast Jeff Bridges as Scudder. The challenge is to translate the feel of those novels into something visual, and then from a story standpoint, the moves in these stories are very small, writer/director Scott Frank told us about bringing Lawrence Blocks 1992 book A Walk Among The Tombstones to the big screen. Starring: Liam Neeson, Dan Stevens, David Harbour. Scudder leaves to send TJ away while Kenny plans a gruesome fate, only for Albert to kill him and Scudder - who's returned - to face him in a final battle. Two armed men come in and kill the bartender. Even though they live and kill together, they don't care for each other as shown when Albert murders the grievously wounded Ray, then calmly goes upstairs to eat dinner before cleaning up and moving on. Its easy to see why a major studio wouldnt necessarily get behind a movie about a former alcoholic ex-cop turned private investigator, whose girlfriend is a prostitute, who helps a drug dealer find the men who killed his wife, and then has the dealer gruesomely kill the criminal. Kenan Khoury survives in the book, but Kenny Kristo is killed in the movie, being shot, Ray asks his brother Albert to treat his wounds. But its also easy to see why those scenes were removed, as for most of Tombstones, Mick is out of the country in (where else?) A Walk Among The Tombstones is in theaters now. A drug kingpin hires troubled ex-cop Matt Scudder to find his wife's killers, a hunt that leads to shocking revelations in New York's underworld. Starring Liam Neeson. We want to hear what you have to say but need to verify your email. Across the street, Scudder sees Loogan exiting an apartment building. The film was released on September 19, 2014. Green-Wood Cemetery, Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA. A Walk Among the Tombstones kept me invested throughout the entire run time of the film, featuring Liam Neeson who is great as usual, very dark tone and a well written script. In fact, after at first leaving a killers fate to vigilante justice, Matt realizes he has to turn back and bring the man to the legal authorities instead. I just think that he is being pigeonholed, and I don't like it. Figured they go back to their house, or wherever they gone go, an when we got there, I just slip out an call you up an tell you where Im at. After Albert and Ray arrive at their place, TJ sneaks out of the van. The two kidnappers, Ray and Albert, surveil the home of Yuri Landau, another drug trafficker. The haunted title of A Walk Among the Tombstones suggests that one's bigoted reflexes are common, lying just beneath the surface. Based on an article, Scudder goes to a cemetery and speaks with a groundskeeper, Jonas Loogan, upset that Scudder reminds him of finding trash bags with body parts of the dismembered Leila in the cemetery pond. Its true that the books ending would have been hard to bring off. The film received mixed reviews from critics and grossed $62 million worldwide. Taken 4 Updates: Will The Liam Neeson Sequel Happen? Later he discovers one of their victims was an undercover DEA agent who had the files on her. Verified reviews are considered more trustworthy by fellow moviegoers. Related: Taken 4 Updates: Will The Liam Neeson Sequel Happen? The 12 steps during the gunfight was especially neat. Matt Scudder (Liam Neeson), formerly part of the NYPD, now works as an unlicensed private detective. He is also one of our primary movie reviewers. But that film's concept of social and sexual loners was problematic--and way too subtle (which may have inspired Demme to immediately follow up with the gay-affirming protest film Philadelphia). 'A Walk Among the Tombstones' is a 2014 American neo-noir action thriller film directed and written by Scott Frank, and based on the 1992 novel of the same title by Lawrence Block. He tells TJ that carrying a gun on the street is the same as putting it to his own forehead and pulling the trigger. Liam Neeson brilliant as Scudder, Scott Frank script and direction tops. By continuing to use our site, you agree to our Private Policy and Terms of Use. The one teen girl who survives has several of her fingers chopped off. The pair of villains are mostly the same too, but given a more pronounced presence in the film, to probably set up a better dynamic between them and anti-hero Scudder. A Walk Among the Tombstones isn't a kill-'em-all Taken-style actioner. Director Scott Frank Writers Lawrence Block (based on the novel by) Scott Frank (written for the screen by) Stars Liam Neeson Dan Stevens David Harbour See production, box office & company info Watch on Netflix with subscription and the We see a thug rip open a womans shirt, baring her breast. Throughout the whole movie, I just wanted Ray and his companion to die. Scudder returns home to find TJ sleeping on the couch and spots a drawing that TJ made of himself as a superhero, with a sickle on his costume representing his sickle cell anemia. This grotesque plot contrivance goes so far from what makes private detective fiction interesting (the classical investigation into despoiled human nature) that it seems to be working out something peculiar: in fact, some dubious obsession with queerness. However, they see his 14-year-old daughter, Lucia, and Ray decides to kidnap her. It contains a mix of suspense, thriller and neo-noir elements. 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