Run All Night - Blu-ray

Film: The days of Jimmy Conlon (Liam Neeson) as a stone-cold hitman are long gone. Now he's a broken man drowning the sins of his past in alcohol. His marriage failed long ago and his now grown son Mike (Joel Kinnaman) wants nothing to do with him. Only his close bond with New York godfather Shawn Maguire (Ed Harris) has so far kept Jimmy from a total meltdown and jail time. But the friendship between the two men is shattered when Shawn's son Danny (Boyd Holbrook) kills two Albanian dealers and also tries to shoot Mike, who has been watching him, which Jimmy prevents at the last moment. Now Danny is dead and Shawn swears revenge. But it's not Jimmy he's after, but Mike and his family. To protect them, Jimmy must engage in a bloody chase through nighttime New York with the police, Shawn's lackeys and a stone-cold hit man...

Run All Night is the third collaboration between director Jaume Collet-Serra and lead actor Liam Neeson. After Neeson was chased all over Berlin by the Spanish director in Unknown Identity and he even had to take on bad guys above the clouds in Non-Stop, this time he has to prove himself as an action hero in New York. Dramaturgically, the whole thing is admittedly not a prime example of originality. But when the thriller is taken for what it wants to be, Run All Night succeeds brilliantly in providing its audience with entertaining and thrilling entertainment. Collet-Serra consistently succeeds in captivating the viewer with wild camera movements, well-executed action scenes, and effective elements of suspense. Even if the father-son conflict is full of clichés, the gripping atmosphere alone can easily hold its own.

Liam Neeson is at his best in the second half of the film. In the best 96 Hours mode he can prove here again and again that he makes even with over 60 still a damn good figure as an action hero. But also Ed Harris and Joel Kinnaman deliver absolutely solid performances. Only Vincent D'Onofrio falls far short of his potential, but this is primarily due to the fact that the script offers his character of the cop, who has been chasing Jimmy for years, little room to develop. But even that only stands out as a minor negative, since the film's focus is on the action anyway - and it manages to convince at almost every moment.

Run All Night won't win any awards for originality, for high acting, an intelligently thought-out dramaturgy or profound dialogue. But in terms of entertainment, this thriller is a real high flyer. Especially compared to the disappointing third part of 96 Hours, this fast-paced non-stop chase is really a very successful genre representative. If you like exciting popcorn cinema, don't mind some clichés and generally appreciate action movies with Liam Neeson, you can confidently run with this one through New York at night. Absolutely worth seeing!

Picture + Sound: The image of the Blu-ray impresses with a decent image sharpness, which also allows many smaller details to come into their own very well. Coloration is very atmospheric, and smudges or other visible weaknesses are not apparent. The slight blurring, which is especially noticeable in the many dark scenes, is a deliberately used stylistic device to emphasize the slightly dirty look of the film.

The sound shows its strengths especially in the action sequences. In addition to the well intelligibly mixed dialogues, sound effects such as gunshots, explosions or squealing car tires repeatedly provide powerful movement in the multichannel range. Good!

Extras: The quite big revelation does not offer the bonus offer. There are two short featurettes about the filming (approx. 10:26 mins) and about lead actor Liam Neeson (approx. 6:09 mins). Otherwise, there are only some unused and extended scenes (approx. 16:20 min.), which, however, have some quite interesting moments to offer.

Conclusion: Run All Night is an atmospheric action thriller that offers little new dramaturgically, but can score with a very stylish visual language and a usual convincing Liam Neeson. The Blu-ray presents the film in appealing picture and sound quality. The bonus material is a bit meager, but overall it is well worth watching. The bottom line is a clear: Recommendable!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp