Netflix Is Breathing New Life Into A 2015 Liam Nesson Crime Thriller

"Liam Neeson-led action movie" is basically a genre nowadays. Be honest, can you name them all? I can't and I do this for a living (though you can read our picks for the best "Old Man Neeson with a Gun" movies here). With so many out there, some are bound to rise to the top of the streaming algorithm. Right now, the hot topic is 2015's "Run All Night." During the week of December 4, 2024, it was the fourth most viewed film on Netflix, in esteemed company such as the first two "Transformers" films and 2017's "The Dark Tower." 

Neeson stars as Jimmy Conlon, an over-the-hill hitman for the New York Irish mob. Jimmy is a drunk and a joke, but he's kept around because his best (and only) friend is boss Shawn Maguire (Ed Harris). Then Jimmy's estranged son Mike (Joel Kinnaman) witnesses Shawn's son Danny (Boyd Holbrook) commit a murder. Danny tries to lethally silence Mike, so Jimmy kills Danny to protect his own son. Conlon senior and junior are indeed forced to run all night through the city, dodging the Maguire family's assassins. 

The whole story feels so lifted from a paperback that it's surprising "Run All Night" is not based on a book. Still, calling it "original" is a stretch. As critics noted at the time of release, the film is basically "Road to Perdition" but set in modern-day New York City instead of the 1930s. (If you're debating which of these two gangster movies to watch, go with "Road to Perdition.")

"Run All Night" got middling reviews and unimpressive box office returns when it came out. It's no masterpiece, but it's got a heart and that lifts it a smidge above schlock.

"Run All Night" was directed by Jaume Collet-Serra, a modern B-movie craftsman. Before he got stuck working for Dwayne Johnson directing franchise non-starters like "Black Adam," Collet-Serra made the horror cult classic "Orphan" and the previous Neeson vehicle "Non-Stop." They'd go on to make a third film together in 2017, "The Commuter," but of the three Neeson/Collet-Serra pictures, I'll take "Run All Night."

The movie that made Neeson into an action star was "Taken," where he played a badass, overprotective father. In "Run All Night," he plays a miserable failure of a dad trying to make it up while he can. Jimmy's quest to reconnect with Mike is obviously paralleled by Shawn's goal to avenge his own son by killing Mike so that he and Jimmy will be equals in their loss. It goes without saying Neeson and Harris are strong actors, especially together.

These themes are nothing new for a gangster picture; the best of them all, "The Godfather," is about the sins of the father, carried forward by the son. Jimmy Conlon is also a snapshot of what it would look like if Neeson had played Frank Sheeran in "The Irishman." But I'd be lying if my soft heart didn't feel a pang when Mike finally calls Jimmy "dad" again.

"Run All Night" is streaming on Netflix.