A Walk Among the Tombstones (2014)

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After "Taken," I imagine Liam Neeson cannot talk on a telephone without someone with him laughing. In this film, he again threatens some bad guys, spitting profanity into the receiver, but his performance will make you care a little more.

Set in 1999, Neeson is Matthew Scudder, an alcoholic former cop who now makes ends meet as an unlicensed private investigator. He is approached by a revenge-seeking drug trafficker (an uneven Dan Stevens) whose wife was kidnapped and assaulted. Even after a ransom was delivered, the abductors (the chilling duo of David Harbour and Adam David Thompson) murdered the woman and left the body to be found. After balking at the case, Scudder takes it on, and begins to investigate similar cases that the police were not able to connect. Scattered amongst his investigation are false leads, a lovely sense of paranoia thanks to Y2K fears, and some fantastic shots of the killer duo stalking their next target.

Writer/director Scott Frank adapts Lawrence Block's novel and turns it into an interesting flick. It is violent and bloody, with plenty of twists, and Neeson does a great job as the main lead. The cocky expression on his face in the opening gun fight is great, and Frank's ability to lead a character through an actual arc with actual growth and change is almost stunning considering the cookie cutter screenwriting that passes today. The supporting cast is very good, with Olafur Darri Olafsson a standout as a cemetery groundskeeper who once helped the killers. His scenes, and exit from the film, are memorable and I had hoped the Academy Awards voters would have remembered him. A few people have taken issue with Scudder's friendship with T.J., a homeless boy played by Brian Astro Bradley. I rolled my eyes at their first scene together, but Frank never takes the relationship between the hero and the boy who emulates him to the annoying heights that brought the excitement of "Terminator 2: Judgment Day" to a full stop in between action set pieces. T.J. is a tough kid, never precocious, and I eventually accepted him. Although Scudder is an alcoholic eight years sober, we thankfully never get the old chestnut scene of him sitting alone in a dive contemplating a cheap drink in front of him. His Alcoholics Anonymous recovery is not just a plot device, it works for him and he dutifully goes to the meetings, repeating his story and weak joke about why he quit while internalizing the real reason he stopped. The NYC setting hearkens back to the bleak urban mysteries of the 1970's, Scudder's grasp of 1999 technology is tenuous, but Frank doesn't make it a punchline. Frank also doesn't let Scudder become a superhero. He investigates, playing some witnesses in order to get the information he needs. The two villains are creepy and evil, their scenes reminded me of Fincher's "Zodiac," until their identities are learned, or at least until they come out into the light. There is no conspiracy that finds its way to the mayor's mansion or anything- sometimes movie mysteries are allowed to be self-contained.

We have seen Scudder before, played by Jeff Bridges in "8 Million Ways to Die," and Lawrence Block has a number of Scudder novels I imagine were ready to get adapted onscreen. Neeson could have found his new franchise, and I wouldn't have minded seeing more of this character. "A Walk Among the Tombstones" was Neeson's strongest work in years, and one of the best films I had seen that year. (* * * * *) out of five stars.

Stats:
(2014) 114 min. (* * * * *) out of five stars
-Directed by Scott Frank
-Screenplay by Scott Frank based on the novel by Lawrence Block
-Cast: Liam Neeson, Dan Stevens, David Harbour, Adam David Thompson, Astro, Olafur Darri Olafsson, Mark Consuelos, Maurice Compte, Patrick McDade, Laura Birn, Boyd Holbrook, Kim Rosen, Eric Nelsen
(R)