A WALK AMONG THE TOMBSTONES
Universal Pictures
Reviewed for Shockya by Harvey Karten. Data-based on Rotten Tomatoes
Grade: B
Director: Scott Frank
Screenplay: Scott Frank, novel by Lawrence Block
Cast: Liam Neeson, Dan Stevens, David Harbour, Robert Boyd Holbrook, Ruth Wilson, Sebastian Roche
Screened at: AMC Lincoln Square, NYC, 9/15/14
Opens: September 19, 2014
“People are afraid of all the wrong things,” says the tagline, this taken from the mouth of one of the kidnapper-killers who, noting a headline about fear of the upcoming Y2K (a potential computer shutdown said to take place when the year 2000 rolled around). Obviously the greater fear is that someone near and dear to you might be kidnapped, tortured and killed, which sets the movie in motion under the direction of Scott Frank—the scripter for the unlikely “Marley and Me” about a neurotic dog. There is a cute Jack Russell in the movie and a cute African-American kid who chooses to play detective, but as the “Scudder” series by Lawrence Block goes, “A Walk Among the Tombstones” is arguably the most labyrinthine and ponderous. “A Walk” is overlong, the teen gumshoe is too cute by half, and the plot, with its theme of revenge, is too much like that of the standard-bearers of the genre. But Liam Neeson’s always reliable performance saves the picture, as he hammers out a role of an ex-alcoholic, unlicensed private investigator who works to do people favors rather than as a steady employment.
In this case, he gets the word from Kenny Kristo (Dan Stevens) through the drug-dealer’s brother, that he wants to two men who kidnapped, tortured, and killed his wife tracked down and handed over to him for appropriate punishment. Matthew Scudder (Liam Neeson) is not concerned about the man’s shady profession but does take the job, reluctantly, when he discovers that the murderers will not be content with just one victim. He is determined to track down the two, disgusted that they killed the drug dealer’s wife despite receiving the $400,000 ransom as ordered. When a fourteen-year-old woman is kidnapped, Scudder is driven to rescue her, insisting that the kidnappers prove that she is alive, and setting up a scenario to ensure that when the money is exchanged, the frightened teen is released.
The plot takes in quite a number of events and quirky personalities, such as the caretaker of Brooklyn’s celebrated Greenwood Cemetery, who keeps a crew of pigeons on his roof as a hobby and who knows more than he at first admits about the kidnappers. Much is made of TJ (Astro), the black teenager whose parents did not want him and who lives on the streets and in a shelter rather than accept residence with foster parents. An aspiring detective himself, he spends his days in the public library, either sleeping or poring over newspaper clippings, giving Scudder information that he gleans from the microfilms.
Writer-director Frank spares no graphics as Scudder, and we in the audience, listen to phone conversations of the vicious killers who take joy not only in kidnapping and killing but in chopping victims into parts and stuffing them into bags for dumping at the cemetery. Much of the action takes place in the rain, giving the movie a nourish ambiance, even providing something else to fear—the teen has sickle-cell anemia, a condition that can become fatal under conditions of such bad weather.
Just as the novel is part of the “Scudder” series, we can expect moviemakers to follow up “A Walk” with a number of sequels.
Rated R. 114 minutes. (c) 2014 by Harvey Karten, Member, New York Film Critics Online
Story – B-
Acting – B+
Technical – B+
Overall – B
