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Laramie Movie Scope:
Run All Night

Solid shoot-em-up gangster drama

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by Robert Roten, Film Critic
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March 15, 2015 -- The imposing figure of Liam Neeson has been striding across movie screens for nearly 40 years, with no signs of slowing down yet. Lately, he's had a lot of success playing flawed, world-weary tough guys searching for redemption in movies like “The Grey,” the “Taken” series, “Non-Stop,” “A Walk Among the Tombstones”. This film is in that vein.

Neeson plays a miserable alcoholic mob hit man Jimmy Conlon, who is estranged from his son's family. One night, he gets a call from his only friend, mob boss Shawn Maguire (played by Ed Harris of “Frontera”). Shawn asks Jimmy to talk to Jimmy's son, Mike Conlon (Joel Kinnaman of the “Robocop” remake) about a mob murder he witnessed that night, just to make sure Mike doesn't tell police what really happened. The murder that Mike witnessed was committed by Shawn's spoiled son Danny (Boyd Holbrook).

Mike knows this life. He isn't going to talk about the murder he saw, but Danny doesn't know this. He shows up at Mike's house to kill Mike, who he knows is a witness to one of several murders Danny committed that night in a drug deal gone bad. At the last second, just before he pulls the trigger to kill Mike, Jimmy shoots Danny, saving his son's life, but making a deadly enemy of his old friend at the same time.

Jimmy tries to smooth things over with his old friend Shawn, but Shawn is determined to kill both Jimmy and Mike to avenge the death of his son. He sends his men, who are seasoned killers, after them. He also hires a professional hit man, Andrew Price (Common, of “Selma”) to kill Mike and Jimmy, just in case his own men fail. Mike hates his father, but comes to understand that his father is the only man who can protect him and his family after he is betrayed by a couple of corrupt cops who are on Shawn's payroll.

Jimmy reaches out to a police detective, Harding (Vincent D'Onofrio of “The Judge”) and offers to give himself up to save his son, who has been framed for murder by Shawn's men. Harding hates and despises Jimmy, but he is honest, and is the only cop that Jimmy trusts. Jimmy agrees to Harding's conditions, but he won't give himself up until his son is out of danger. In order to make sure his son is safe, he is going to have to kill Shawn.

All of this happens during a single night, so the pace of the film is fast. There are quite a few things going on, as Mike's wife (Genesis Rodriguez) and his children are also put in harm's way. There is also a subplot involving a couple of other family members (including a cameo by a grizzled Nick Nolte). There is a car chase, a foot chase, fist fights and lots of shoot outs, but mainly this is a drama about a man trying to save his son and reconnect with his family.

Neeson, Kinnaman, Harris and D'Onofrio all give strong performances in this film. The main characters all have enough depth and definition to be believable. While the story does have some unnecessary detours, it is basically a good, powerful drama with enough action to satisfy action fans. This film rates a B.

Click here for links to places to buy or rent this movie in digital formats, or to buy the soundtrack, posters, books, even used videos, games, electronics and lots of other stuff. I suggest you shop at least two of these places before buying anything. Prices seem to vary continuously. For more information on this film, click on this link to The Internet Movie Database. Type in the name of the movie in the search box and press enter. You will be able to find background information on the film, the actors, and links to much more information.

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Copyright © 2015 Robert Roten. All rights reserved.
Reproduced with the permission of the copyright holder.
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Robert Roten can be reached via e-mail at my last name at lariat dot org. [Mailer button: image of letter and envelope]

(If you e-mail me with a question about this or any other movie or review, please mention the name of the movie you are asking the question about, otherwise I may have no way of knowing which film you are referring to)