A Walk Among the Tombstones

Well, this movie isn't bad but it's not as good as LIAM NEESON movies. well maybe this is cause this didn't happen to his family directly. anyway just an okay movie. 6.0/10

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In 1991, In New York, Matt Scudder (Liam Neeson) is an alcoholic police detective. In 1999, Scudder is retired from the police and is a private investigator without license. When his comrade Peter Kristo (Boyd Holbrook) from the rehab invites him to visit his brother Kenny Kristo (Dan Stevens), who is a drug dealer, Scudder learns that Kenny's wife Ann Carrie Kristo (Razane Jammal) had been abducted and cut into pieces by the kidnappers. Now Kenny wants to find the killer to revenge. Scudder initially refuses the case but then he accepts to investigate. Soon he finds that the killers have murdered other women connected to drug dealers and they get their files from the DEA. When the fourteen year-old daughter of a drug dealer is also kidnapped, Scudder heads up a group to rescue the teenager. "A Walk among the Tombstones" is a gloomy crime film developed in slow pace, but with a complex story. The plot is realistic and the viewer follows Scudder investigation. The screenplay does not have a plot point with surprising revelations or action scenes; indeed it is indeed old- fashioned. My vote is seven. Title (Brazil): "Caçada Mortal" ("Deadly Hunt")

Credits roll, and a haunting cover of "Black Hole Sun" by Nouela plays (the same song from the trailer). Its mellow and dilatory tune perfectly encapsulates the bleak, somber tone of this chilling thriller where Liam Neeson isn't the invincible badass his reputation usually proclaims. We first meet Matt Scudder (Neeson) in a flashback in the early 1990's where he clumsily takes down three crooks in a murky New York City. Fast forward to 1999, and he's retired-apparently scarred by his own incompetence on that wretched day-laying back at his favorite restaurant when an acquaintance (Eric Nelsen) informs him of a significant (unofficial) assignment. Oh no, a retired, gloomy detective returns for one last job? And yet, the film astonishingly manages to feature these kinds of irksome clichés but executes them in such an exceptional way as to overshadow their familiarity with the underlying compelling storyline and arresting cinematography. Long story short: a drug dealer's (Dan Stevens) wife has been kidnapped and chopped into bits and pieces only to be nauseatingly dispersed in a park's pond. The remainder of the narrative-about 25 minutes in-sees Scudder investigating and following the cunning tracks of two alarming killers. In that regard, the killers (David Harbour and Adam David Thompson) make for incredibly creepy villains, mirthfully indulging in the rape of young girls and innocent wives while videotaping the horror and asking for a substantial ransom from their respective families. Alas, the audience will be forced through disturbingly shot and edited sequences of helpless women exerting to lie still as execrable hands scale their flesh-close-ups of wide eyes and deathly pale skin. On another note, many have been complaining that A Walk among the Tombstones isn't exactly the unpredictable and fast-paced mystery thriller they were expecting. However, that doesn't deem it a bad film, does it? Because it's clearly not attempting to (generically) fall into that category. Initially, I was also flabbergasted and immensely underwhelmed by David Fincher's Zodiac, presuming it to be a tense, brisk thriller; nevertheless, after a repeat viewing, I quickly realized that marketing-while, yes, manipulating audience expectations- shouldn't be an indicator of actual quality. If this particular movie was striving to be unpredictable yet you correctly predicted every single twist long before it came, then yes, it would've been a disastrous failure. Like Zodiac though, the movie is more about the grim and eerie atmosphere and, of course, the psychopathic killers themselves. Aside from a few effectively humorous lines, this film is not the typical "crowd-pleaser expected from a post-Taken Liam Neeson picture, and the trailers clearly established that too. With that being said, it's still more exciting than a slow burn. As long as moviegoers accept its (effectual) dark aura and are successfully frightened by its imagery and subject matter, A Walk among the Tombstones will be a highly satisfying experience at the cinema. In fact, judging by its underwhelming box office results, I will even go so far as to say it might be the sleeper hit of this fall like Rush and Don Jon were last September.

Doubting whether audiences do really know the existence of this crime film due to poor marketing, Liam Neeson's name alone however has no problem at all to draw a solid walk-ins, and surprisingly it turns out to be a compelling story compared to his previous roles. Unlike the other same genre, this does not filled with action-packed scenes, but progresses steadily and methodically in details just like a real investigation in daily life, making it appears to be a chilling drama thriller. Not much of plot twists, but certain creepy moments with solid scores, riveting performance from the hero himself and the supporting casts, nasty and eerie crime heavily based on drugs and alcohol, the surprisingly "muted" ending style are more than enough to guarantee an intense, enjoyable, old-fashioned and watchable psycho- thriller.

source: A Walk Among the Tombstones