A Walk Among the Tombstones
Posted by Itheliving 9 years, 7 months ago to Movies
A Walk Among the Tombstones / Rated R for violence, torture, scary images, drinking, smoking and drug use.
At 62, Liam Neeson has become a late blooming action figure. Most people going to see his new film are probably thinking it will be like the 3 films in the Taken series and his latest pot boiler Non-Stop. While the preview for AWATT may give this impression it is not factual.
AWATT is based on a novel by Lawrence Block. LB is a very prolific series book writer both under his own name and at least 9 other names that we know of. AWATT is based on his fan favorite character, ex-cop, now unlicensed P.I. Matt Scudder. Of the 18 novels in the series this one is number 10 and was published in 1992. This is a spoiler. Sorry. No matter what danger Liam is in, as MS in AWATT, the character must go on.
As pure Film Noir this is well directed and fit’s the genre mold. It’s dark and brooding. The character is a damaged hero. He operates in NYC and uses his old badge to get people to talk to him. He doesn’t carry a gun. Don’t expect a lot of shooting the bad guys. At least not till the end. He also doesn’t get in a lot of fights despite what you might believe from the preview. Which in this case gives away just about every thing about this paper thin plot there is to give away. If you watch the preview you might want to cover your eyes and hum real loud or there is not much point to watch the film at all. You will have seen all the main points in about 1 minute.
At far as AWATT goes 1 minute is about right. The plot is weak. The hunt for the “bad guys” since there is no mystery about who they are is not much of a hunt. Early on, their faces are clouded or blurred. Later they are just out there on view since this “mystery” is not a mystery at all but a dogged pursuit of clues until the big fight at the end. The scene at the end is rough and tumble. But the ending is never in suspense, at least not if you have read this review, seen the preview or have an IQ higher than 50.
As pacing goes, this one is about like reading this review one word a minute for about 501 minutes. Not a lot of entertainment that’s for sure. The introduction of a homeless child who becomes a kind of partner for the Matt Scudder character doesn’t work to add any humor or intelligence to the story line although that is what they are trying to accomplish. It’s all a dead end street. Kind of like this series promises to be on film. Actually the correct word would be serie since that is closer to what this will turn out to be.
Rated 2.0 out of 4.0 reasons not to bother counting the words to see if I was correct. NOTE word count does not include this sentence or any words edited out by the newspaper officials.
At 62, Liam Neeson has become a late blooming action figure. Most people going to see his new film are probably thinking it will be like the 3 films in the Taken series and his latest pot boiler Non-Stop. While the preview for AWATT may give this impression it is not factual.
AWATT is based on a novel by Lawrence Block. LB is a very prolific series book writer both under his own name and at least 9 other names that we know of. AWATT is based on his fan favorite character, ex-cop, now unlicensed P.I. Matt Scudder. Of the 18 novels in the series this one is number 10 and was published in 1992. This is a spoiler. Sorry. No matter what danger Liam is in, as MS in AWATT, the character must go on.
As pure Film Noir this is well directed and fit’s the genre mold. It’s dark and brooding. The character is a damaged hero. He operates in NYC and uses his old badge to get people to talk to him. He doesn’t carry a gun. Don’t expect a lot of shooting the bad guys. At least not till the end. He also doesn’t get in a lot of fights despite what you might believe from the preview. Which in this case gives away just about every thing about this paper thin plot there is to give away. If you watch the preview you might want to cover your eyes and hum real loud or there is not much point to watch the film at all. You will have seen all the main points in about 1 minute.
At far as AWATT goes 1 minute is about right. The plot is weak. The hunt for the “bad guys” since there is no mystery about who they are is not much of a hunt. Early on, their faces are clouded or blurred. Later they are just out there on view since this “mystery” is not a mystery at all but a dogged pursuit of clues until the big fight at the end. The scene at the end is rough and tumble. But the ending is never in suspense, at least not if you have read this review, seen the preview or have an IQ higher than 50.
As pacing goes, this one is about like reading this review one word a minute for about 501 minutes. Not a lot of entertainment that’s for sure. The introduction of a homeless child who becomes a kind of partner for the Matt Scudder character doesn’t work to add any humor or intelligence to the story line although that is what they are trying to accomplish. It’s all a dead end street. Kind of like this series promises to be on film. Actually the correct word would be serie since that is closer to what this will turn out to be.
Rated 2.0 out of 4.0 reasons not to bother counting the words to see if I was correct. NOTE word count does not include this sentence or any words edited out by the newspaper officials.
