Film Review: ‘A Walk Among the Tombstones’ Solidifies Desire for Liam Neeson to Be Your Dad

CHICAGO – I don’t know about your dad, but mine – love him as I do – isn’t Jason Bourne, James Bond or Bryan Mills. At the age of 62, Liam Neeson somehow still kicks ass as Bryan Mills in “Taken” and fans everywhere love riding every minute of his butt-kicking thrill rides.

Rating: 3.0/5.0

Denzel Washington, Daniel Craig and Matt Damon are certainly a close second for who your fantasy dad would be, but really the winner is Liam Neeson every time. And I don’t just mean for those of us with daddy issues.

Liam would play baseball or My Little Pony with you, teach you wise life lessons, make you laugh and send you on your merry way in life. All the while, he’d be protecting you in the shadows if ever enemies find reason to harm you. He’s scary to bad guys even without a gun as we all know from anyone who has been on the opposite end of the phone with him. He never gets hurt himself and he selflessly makes his life about you.

Read Adam Fendelman’s full review of “A Walk Among the Tombstones”. [19]

What more could we ask for in the perfect fantasy dad? In “A Walk Among the Tombstones,” Liam is back yet again in the same exact role we’ve only seen him in recent years, but this time not to protect his own kid. Here he’s the outside-of-the-law vigilante he usually is, but this time just for the paycheck. Of course, though, the job becomes more than just the money. He ends up being out to finish the dirty work someone else started.

What’s most interesting about Liam Neeson always playing this same character lately is that the formula keeps working and you don’t care. I feel much the same way about the Jason Bourne movies: they can keep making them – with or without Matt Damon – and I’ll enjoy all of them. Likewise, Liam’s “Taken” in 2008 followed up with “Taken 2” in 2012, he’s got a gun again in 2014’s “Non-Stop” and he will again with “Taken 3” in 2015.

“A Walk Among the Tombstones” stars Liam Neeson, Dan Stevens, David Harbour, Maurice Compte, Laura Birn, Adam David Thompson, Kim Rosen, Eric Nelsen, Razane Jammal and Al Nazemian from writer and director Scott Frank based on the novel by Lawrence Block. It has a running time of 113 minutes and opened on Sept. 19, 2014. The film is rated “R” for strong violence, disturbing images, language and brief nudity.

Continue for Adam Fendelman’s full review of “A Walk Among the Tombstones”. [19]

Liam Neeson in “A Walk Among the Tombstones”.
Photo credit: Universal Pictures

Continue for Adam Fendelman’s full review of “A Walk Among the Tombstones”. [19]