7.5/10

The novel by the same name from author Lawrence Block is given the big screen treatment in this thriller about a private investigator hunting a group of men who kidnap women for ransom and then kill them after they get the cash. The film stars Liam Neeson as the investigator, Matt Scudder. He quits the New York Police Department after a ricochet bullet in a shootout kills a child. An attention troubling person would watch this movie and compare it to Neeson’s action roles in the ‘Taken’ films or this year’s ‘Non Stop’, but they would be selling his compelling performance as Scudder short. It’s a shame too because the wrong reviewer could lead the audience away from this film dismissing it as another action film. That is where ‘Tombstones’ is completely against typecast because while the film is classified as an action film, i look at is as a crime drama that offers something more than the same story we have been offered hundreds of times in a film similar to this one. It has a deeper character for Neeson to play, and it’s in the alcoholic Scudder that we get a defeated character that Neeson has to rise above with to give his life the meaning it needs. Neeson’s Scudder feels human as opposed to the ‘Taken’ films where he is nearly unstoppable. He is also given villains that are extremely capable of giving the audience the ammo to get behind Neeson. It’s rare anymore that a film will get me to care enough for the main characters that i clap when something bad happens to the villains, but A Walk Among the Tombstones more than filled me with this emotion thanks to two very derranged and intelligent dialogue driven kidnappers (Played by David Harbour and Eric Nelson). Harbour in particular is a man who knows how to punch the buttons of our male lead so well that it takes us back to the days of Gary Sinise and Mel Gibson in 1995’s ‘Ransom’. He is the brains of the operation and knows what to say to get what he wants. As i said before, this film is based off of a novel that takes place in the middle of a series of books. The film doesn’t seem to mention anything from the other books, and it never quite hurts the film from standing on it’s own. This story and the brutal nature in which it is presented more than makes up for any questions that Scudder would feel rushed by not hearing much about his past. I feel he is a character that doesn’t need the whole story told, just the important facts that shape his life from being a fraction of the man he once was during his time in the NYPD. The film isn’t without it’s problems, and i can respect if these things might bother some people or steer them away from seeing the film. It’s kind of a slow build with very few explosive scenes leading up to the pulse driving finale. The movie mostly relies on it’s flashbacks with the abductions of several women. The film also has an anti climatic ending that poorly orchestrates the pace of the final shootout. With a movie so strongly built 3/4 of the film, it seemed like the ending was rushed and underwhelming. The point might have been to make our characters pay for their sins, but i felt that more could’ve been done to put our protagonists at danger. The other problem i had with the film was the unnecessary setting of 1999 as the film. The movie mentions the Y2K problem as well as band posters that were famous at that time hanging up on teenage girl’s walls. The problem is that this film doesn’t use any of this setting or events to ever pay a point in the plot of the film. It’s just kind of there for the audience to think about what life was like in 1999. Honestly, this film could’ve taken place in 2014 or 1974 and it wouldn’t have mattered a difference. The issues i mentioned may steer some moviegoers away from this film, but i urge you to stand against the normal on this one and give it a chance. I think most people will appreciate ‘Tombstones’ for the blending of mixed personalities, revenge driven plot, and the performance of a male lead who even at the age of 62 finds new things to add to the roles he takes on. A Walk Among the Tombstones is an early fall treat to challenge other films that it will need more than just a good story to beat this one.