Anything But Dead Among These Tombstones
Welcome to another casual Friday! Close of the week is upon us. Looking for something to do this weekend? Well, the Fall movie season is off to a good start and one of those films happens to be A Walk Among the Tombstones, staring Liam Neeson, Dan Stevens, David Harbour.
Not another Taken
Watching the trailer of this movie is a little misleading in the fact that it makes you feel as if it’s another iteration of Taken, except for the fact that Neeson’s “certain set of skills” are used to find someone else’s wife. This movie is takes a much darker tone than that and is very reminiscent of a western.
What I enjoyed about it the most was the fact that we had an opportunity to watch a characters fall from grace and transform into a lone rider of sorts with a gritty New York City as a modern-day wild west. Neeson does tend to stay in his lane when it comes to picking his roles. His characters are brooding and a bit brutal, because of what they’ve been through; the characters always have a good heart and will do what’s right when necessary. It makes for an engaging story in the fact that you will stick with this character just to see where his resolve takes him.
The Boy Wonder
When a movie is as raw as this is, there’s a tendency to anchor the character in some form or another. It’s the storyteller’s effort to make the main character as human as possible without changing his core personality. In The Drop, the writer used the Rocco the dog; In most incarnations of Batman, the writer uses Robin; Indiana Jones had Short Round. In A Walk Among the Tombstones, the character of TJ’s (played by Brian “Astro” Bradley) is used to ground Scudder (played by Neeson).
For those of you that aren’t familiar, Bradley is a new up and comer hailing from Brooklyn, NY. He’s been making his mark on film and TV, namely his work in Earth to Echo and Red Band Society have been making waves for him. Now he can add A Walk Among the Tombstones to his resume. The kid has charisma by the truck loads. In Tombstones, he serves as a great mainstay to Neeson’s character in the movie, and presents us with an opportunity to connect to Neeson in the film.
Overall: A Solid Film Worth A Ticket
You know I try not to steer you wrong when it comes to making these ticket purchases, and my goal is to keep that going. With that being said, I say give Tombstones a look over at least once while it’s in theaters. If you’re worried about those crazy ticket prices, then definitely catch a matinée. A Walk Among the Tombstones was definitely worth the money to spend a moment in this gritty crime mystery to watch the story unfold and the characters’ journey. Most will say there’s a bit too many clichés in this film, but they work, so it executes the film following a solid standard and doesn’t stretch it.