What is it about? :: Matthew Scudder (Liam Neeson) is someone who used to be an aggressive police officer in the early 1990s. But now, eight years later, he is a recovering alcoholic and is approached by Peter (Boyd Holbrook) for his brother, a drug trafficker called Kenny Kristo (Dan Stevens) whose wife Carrie (Razane Jammal) was kidnapped and murdered despite the ransom fee being paid at the right time. The fact that he got his wife as pieces inside the trunk of a car makes his hope for vengeance that stronger, and Matthew who works as an unlicensed private detective is the one he looks out for help. Despite the initial reluctance, he takes the case and starts collecting clues. It turns out that Carrie is not the first one to suffer the fate, and neither will she be the last.

The defence of A Walk Among the Tombstones :: The return of Liam Neeson in another thriller might be reason enough for this movie to defend itself in front of the fans. It is the protagonist played by him that once against manages to be outstanding. As a crime-drama thriller, this one is more artistic and having strong emotional moments which add to the thrills very well. The movie nicely progresses with its strengthening factors until the nice finish has been reached. The links between the brutal murders are well connected in a realistic way rather than bringing some big clue out of nowhere. The lack of goodness in this grey or darkness-aligned world is well portrayed in this movie which successfully shows some signs of hope by the end, but not before going through the test. There is no unrealistic action sequences in this one, and don’t look for it.

Claws of flaw :: The movie is surely slow, and despite having a certain beauty about its pace, it is still slow and so it is surely not for the fans of Liam Neeson’s other movies like Non-Stop, A-Team and that popular Taken franchise – it is not Unknown or The Grey either. So, people who don’t like to have an artistic and realistic touch instead of those exaggerated sequences, are surely going to be disappointed. This doesn’t go the The Silence of the Lambs and Se7en way either, even though the serial killers and violence to victims are there along with the inquiries into the same – there is not much of the gore on the screen despite the idea being used. There is also a certain lack of the background to the killers, and the ending could have been more intense – it is surely satisfying and peaceful, but there could have been more strength to it.

Performers of the soul :: Liam Neeson is the man in control once again. It is completely about how his character go through these situations in his own way. It should be his name which might have brought the attention here, and he is perfectly fit for his character. This will remind you of some of the other characters he has played, but only here and there – he goes a lot more realistic in this one. He keeps avoiding all chances of getting into a fight, so much that once he keeps getting beaten up while not even trying to resist until he speaks when given a chance. He talks against violence and revenge so often in this movie, and hopes to keep himself always straight forward and also support even the not so good people in a positive way – even with similarities in the role, it is not your powerful action star here! Brian Bradley’s character was kind of strange and often irritating, but the rest worked well in this movie.

Soul Exploration: The problems of being a good person :: The main character himself is firmly rooted in disappointment as well as guilt, as he goes through what he should have done earlier during his times as a police officer, to reach the salvation that he intends to. He never hopes for that though, as he is without a direction, doing just random things for no reason, instead of having a purpose. You can see that feeling on his face throughout the movie, as Liam Neeson does that to perfection with ease. It is about people with high potential never being realized, and they end up being lesser achievers than they deserve to be, while there is no limits to what the liars, cheaters and back-stabbers can achieve in this world of chaos – and they are appreciated for the same. But good people always have to suffer and struggle even for the smallest mistakes.

Soul Exploration: The difficulty in finding goodness :: There is a certain amount of darkness and sadness which prevails throughout this movie, and almost nobody in this movie is a happy person, and not many good things happen around here – it is a clear reflection of what the life is, a pure situation of hopelessness were only the richest, powerful and those who can lie really well thrive in this world and the good ones as well as the grey ones who mostly infest this movie will suffer because they are rarely considered important. We are all going to suffer one day, may be in the hands of those who are just evil, or otherwise the rich who wants to feed on those who are not that rich or the system itself. Goodness is not valuable in this world, and at the end of our times, we are going to suffer for the presence of goodness and die.

How it finishes :: “People are afraid of all the wrong things” – this dialogue sets the mood for the movie a few minutes into the action, as it has that kind of evil that should be feared more than many others because it is random and naturally existing in most of the humans. The movie reflects this statement, as it goes steady and solid throughout, and keeps its power in its smooth movement towards the end, and the feeling that the audience has remains the same till the end. This one is also a fine opportunity to see Liam Neeson in his most human form as far as his action thrillers are concerned. A Walk Among the Tombstones is fine addition to the list of thrillers in which the man has acted in, and you can watch this one and find out where it features in that interesting list.

Release date: 19th September 2014
Running time: 114 minutes
Directed by: Scott Frank
Starring: Liam Neeson, Dan Stevens, David Harbour, Boyd Holbrook, Ólafur Darri Ólafsson, Brian Bradley, Eric Nelsen, Mark Consuelos, Adam David Thompson, Sebastian Roché, Laura Birn, Danielle Rose Russell, Razane Jammal, Kim Rosen, Natia Dune, Genevieve Adams, Lana Delaurent, Al Nazemian, Jolly Abraham, Frank De Julio, Whitney Able

@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.