Run All Night is a very manly movie. It oozes maleness that, if you were a girl, you'd probably be sporting stubbles by the time you're through. It reminds me of old Hong Kong movies, with maleness and machismo being wielded as deadly weapon.
Despite that, it's not particularly testosterone-laden. Yes, you can be manly without the chest-beating, or the one-liners designed to taunt your opponent into doing something stupid. This distinguishes Run All Night from, say, Taken, or your typical Steven Seagal movie -- this movie, in its very core, is about what it's like to be a father, or how not to be one.
Run All Night is star-studded; nevermind the fact that I only really know Liam Neeson and Ed Harris -- Ed Harris is star power enough (for me) to fill a five part movie about cooking sushi properly with your left hand tied behind your back with a silk necktie. Add action-grandpa Liam Neeson and you'd get the next ultimate versus movie this side of Stallone and Swarzenegger (or Stiller and De Niro).
What I love the most about this movie (aside from its proper notions of manliness and fatherhood), is the fact that Liam Neeson doesn't do his usual Taken act -- the unstoppable force of nature that kicks down every door and shoots up every villain in his sight, though he does shoot and kill a lot of people here (enough to add to that old Liam Neeson infographic), it was never done in a casual, zip up your fly manner. You can feel each kill costing him.
I'm glad we ended up watching this movie, I was ready to give it the skip, especially since it hasn't been a year since I've seen the last Taken. This movie is as gritty as your typical Ed Harris movie without being overly depressing, although, I have to admit, I felt my eyes itch from some strange atmospheric effect causing tears to flow down (a bit), but there's a death scene at the end that was just oozing manliness that I couldn't help myself. It's just like how manly Japanese guys would cry in anime, when their comrades would do something paricularly brave (like pedaling to exhaustion and not finishing the race so his team mates could push ahead and win). That sort of manliness.
Verdict: 4/5 Well worth watching!
TL;DR:
+ Liam Neeson, toning down his action-grandpa act
+ Ed Harris
+ Straighforward movie, none of your twists and turns
+ Serious without being overly dramatic, or stressful
Details:
Movie Release Date: 3/18/2015
Seen at: Fisher Mall Cinemas
Notable Stars: Liam Neeson, Ed Harris
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2199571/
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