With regard to Liam Neeson’s “badass hunting down bad guys” genre of movies, A Walk Among the Tombstones joins its predecessors. There is only so much that can and has been offered by an actor like Neeson, especially who has been on the receiving end of few phrases “particular set of skills” more than once one too many times. Still, even if this is basically boilerplate material and even if the horrors of Tombstones’ plot don’t sound terribly fresh the fantasy of watching Neeson scream at people for two hours is one that has not yet lost savoring, just as Tombstones is in a most disturbing neo-noir mode.
The adaptation titled A Walk Among The Tombstones is based on the book by Lawrence Block about Lawrence Block and was adapted by Scott Frank (Minority Report; The Lookout) for the screen. Neeson plays an ex-cop named Matthew Scudder who has been in private investigation work without a license after quitting the police department for the last eight years. Scudder doesn’t want, but has to, help him to kill. So, reluctantly, Scudder agrees to help a drug dealer (Dan Stevens) find two thugs who had abducted and killed his wife, and then tries to kill him too. But as Scudder begins to do his work, he discovers that this is not the first time these men have committed this crime, and it certainly won’t be the last.
In Scudder’s defense, however, it is fair to say that he is not quite the cruel, remorseless, professional killer which Neeson seems to have become in recent years. In fact, he is fairly contrary. To begin with, he likes to investigate rather than use infliction and most of the time does not rely on violence to extract what he needs. I mean, yes, when push comes to shove, and it often does, Scudder tends to be someone you wouldn’t want to cross and there are still plenty of occasions where Neeson throws punches. Uh-huh, and one – to be quite precise, this is taken away from his other film – he actually threatens one of his kidnappers through the cell phone, very much in a rush, to prevent a daughter – not even his, mind you, from being taken. Perhaps, however, that is one of the things to avoid when watching Tombstone history to begin with looking for yet one ‘of many Neeson’s brain departed sadistic street thrasher’.
To be sure, Frank is looking for a lakehead because his crime drama criticizes too crazily. And this is especially highlighted by the fact that the events in the movie take place against the backdrop of the Y2K panic at the end of nineteen ninety-nine. A s one of the killers points a finger to show the pages of a New York rag: “People are afraid of all the wrong things.” Unfortunately, the premillennial tension has come through in very little more than that one line, however, many images of the Y2K theme have since filled the pages. Actually, it has nothing to do on the plot at all which is a shame because it seems like it has been set up for something more than what is existing.
In the end, it is only Scudder’s backlash toward cell phones and computers that fits into the 1999 setting, but that does set up the fact that his relationship with a very tech savvy child called TJ Alex has been rocky all along. That, along with Scudder’s record as a drunkard, puts a bit more meat on the old shamus.
From the examples provided one can see that concerning the tone, Frank gets everything right when it comes to depicting the atmosphere that goes hand in hand with Block’s disquieting mystery. Tropical storms are great for Scudder’s breathers (and they make great pictures too when it comes to shot selection). He captures, more often than not, the humor in detecitve’s research work while keeping both feet in the sad world.
In any case, there are moments where it seems appropriate to call Spiner’s script positively creepy. Frankisons condemnation can particularly regard its two criminal figures —one by David Harbour, the other by Adam David Thompson, combined will tip the and amusingly “grossly morbid.” There is nothing wrong in witnessing women get sexually assaulted and horrifically murdered in this category that is most reserved for movies but it is disgusting how these rapist killers is portrayed in this movie where there are no women talking nor being brutalized on set rather off screen. All these in the end seem out of place as far as Scudder is concerned as I would be willing to believe that if this was indeed a movie – it would have been more about attempts at Scudder.
The Verdict
Scott Frank’s film adaptation A Walk Among the Tombstones presents a noteworthy difference from other works of Liam Neeson when he plays the emotionally distant private detective. He does not get to use his muscles much in the story and employs more intelligence in his preterist investigations. Although the plot is rather banal at times and even infuriating, the acting of Neeson and direction of Frank save the film from much more visible weaknesses of Tombstones.
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