Starring: Liam Neeson, Dan Stevens, David Harbour. How viewers can change the meaning of a great artists work. He is asked by a drug dealer to find the men who kidnapped his wife. The films opening flashback sequence (borrowed from Blocks first book in the Scudder series, 1976s The Sins Of The Fathers) with Liam Neesons alcoholic cop Matt Scudder taking down some very bad dudes, complete with slow motion sequences, very much feels like an audience concession (though it provides backstory as well). This email will be used to sign into all New York sites. He is about to give up when they grab another girl and Scudder tries make sure she's returned alive. The movie follows private investigator Matthew Scudder hired by a drug kingpin to find out who kidnapped and murdered his wife. Matt regularly attends Alcoholics Anonymous meetings in an effort to stay liquor- and drug-free. 0:57. And he remembers a young woman reading off each of AAs famous 12 steps, many of which talk of turning your weaknesses and flaws over to God and praying for the Lords power to remove those defects of character and carry an individual through. Matt buys TJ some essentials and protects him. By creating an account, you agree to the The rape stuff made me want to throw up, and I usually don't flinch at that kind of stuff. TVTropes is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. After realizing Landau's wife is bedridden, they prepare to leave for a new target. He tells Scudder that he should be scared of the other two men because theyre not human. He feeds his pigeons, gives Scudder one name, "Ray," and then he jumps off the roof to his death. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Its clear from the sunless palette and the measured, one-thing-after-another pacing that Frank loves Blocks work, and that goes a long way. TJ He regularly has a cigarette in his mouth. I think you're talking about when Ray claimed he killed the wife because Kenny negotiated on the price. [21], Richard Roeper gave the film a B+ rating, calling the film "a stylish and smart thriller". The green screen at the end was pretty bad, though. In the climax, Matthew finally subdues Albert with a taser directly to the testicles. Unavailable on an ad-supported plan due to licensing restrictions. Seeing the trailers earlier this summer, I got chills at the darkness and mystery the tale promised. As the body count goes up, he must use unreliable witnesses and gut intuition to try to catch the murderers. Scudder gives him a phone so that TJ can reach him if he needs anything. In Blocks version, Ray (David Harbour) calmly garrottes his partner before Scudder and his pals get there. People are afraid of all the wrong things. A bit of a homage (in a good way) to noir as Neeson fleshes out a husk of a man playing at being a private detective on a case he doesn't want, for people he doesn't like. Physically in the cold, mentally in the Caribbean. Based on Lawrence Block's bestselling series of mystery novels, A Walk among the Tombstones stars Liam Neeson as Matt Scudder, an ex-NYPD cop who now works as an unlicensed private investigator operating just outside the law. Retracing steps. Frank and Block are obviously ripping-off the heinous perversity of the Jame Gumb character in Jonathan Demme's 1991 The Silence of the Lambs (which revived the specter of the sexually queer but pathetic monster). [14] On January 30, 2014, it was announced the film would be released on September 19, 2014. The long-delayed second part of the canceled HBO series came and went so quietly you were bound to miss it. Maybe hes genetically driven to do what good cops, sober cops, just naturally do: help people. Scudder goes back inside the house and finds Albert gone. Scudder isnt a reckless vigilante eaten up with rage. Sadly, well never know. 1:28. But now movies are about spectacle. He can still see the little 8-year-old girl he killed. In our interview with Frank, he noted that Ruth Wilson who had her scenes cut played a key figure in Scudders life, one that was changed from the books from a man to a woman. And why did they feel the need to save the one girl and kill others related to drugs? Matt Follows Loogan. Read critic reviews. 27 talking about this. Cinemark Coming Soon. The one teen girl who survives has several of her fingers chopped off. [20] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale. Figured they go back to their house, or wherever they gone go, an when we got there, I just slip out an call you up an tell you where Im at. His actions, by movies end, indicate that he might even be taking on more of a parental role with the teen. He gave up his brother to a DEA investigator who was later targeted by the killers. A Walk Among the Tombstones is a 2014 American neo-noir action thriller film [5] [6] [7] [8] directed and written by Scott Frank, and based on the 1992 novel of the same name by Lawrence Block. And as the book closes, Kenan/Kenny leaves the country to start a new life abroad, in another segment of the familys illegal businesses around the world. I couldn't be happier about either the star or the writer/director, both of them genuine artists and brilliant professionals. A Walk Among the Tombstones Plot. Hes slower and heavier-spirited. Hed rather recite AAs 12 steps and humbly ask God to remove his shortcomings than try to violently purge the defects from others. Other notable changes in A Walk Among The Tombstones includes (slightly) updating the setting to 1999. For our money, wed say for the full Scudder experience youll want the book, but as an abridged version, the film does an adequate if not wholly satisfying job. We see their body parts, wrapped in plastic and paper, in the back of a car, in a dumpster, on the grounds of a graveyard and floating in a pond. Throughout the book series, including Tombstone, Scudder is hitting meetings almost on a daily basis. The movie ends on a more hopeful note than the novel, with Matt coming back from killing Albert to see TJ asleep and having drawn a version of himself as a superhero with a sickle emblem on his outfit - a reference to his sickle cell anemia. Based on an article, Scudder goes to a cemetery and speaks with a groundskeeper, Jonas Loogan, upset that Scudder reminds him of finding trash bags with body parts of the dismembered Leila in the cemetery pond. Ray And Albert. We see a thug rip open a womans shirt, baring her breast. Listen to A Walk Among the Tombstones (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) by Carlos Rafael Rivera on Apple Music. A Walk Among the Tombstones opens in theaters Sept. 19. The film received mixed reviews from critics and grossed $62 million worldwide. The bad guys (David Harbour and Adam David Thompson) introduced at the outset are very bad, indeed. There is also a large portion of Scudders detective work in the book that involves utilizing a pair of hackers to get into NYNEX (with laptops, external modems, and acoustic couplers if you want to get an idea of how technologically ancient Blocks book is) to uncover phone logs for him, which Frank rightly jettisons, as its a lot of tech talk and not that cinematic. Jonas. Green-Wood Cemetery, Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA. (Hes equally effective in the coming The Equalizer.) Ray and Albert (portrayed by David Harbour and Adam David Thompson) are not just the bad guys; they're porn-corrupted boyfriends--evildoers and gynophobic creeps who abduct women then perform mutilations on them before killing them. Whats there now is not just different from the novel, it also features a recitation woven through the action of all 12 AA steps, which just seems weird. But the way the movie stands, its as if a vital body part has been lopped off. But then I thought, TJ, this aint no movie, an you too young to die. TJ. Scudder and Kenny find TJ outside the house and they all silently enter the house finding Albert calmly eating his dinner. Terms and Policies Scudder refuses. Running over 400 pages long, Blocks book obvoiusly has a lot more plot, and for the most part, Frank does a pretty good job of streamlining the story. Portraits of Kennys wife show her naked in several poses, some of them revealing full-frontal nudity. the movie should rated R+ cause it has some pretty seriously gross topics. All rights reserved. In the end, Matthew has Albert subdued on the floor with a gun pointed at his head. What I cant accept is the loss of the finale that gives A Walk Among the Tombstones its grisly poetic symmetry and conclusively demonstrates the difference between Scudders passive acceptance of violence and the vigilante fury of the man hes working for. The Hard Case Crime tie-in novel is also in stores. (The camera finally looks away before he cuts and she screams.). One man walks off an apartment building rooftop to crash to a bloody death on a car down below. At any rate, in Blocks book, TJ is someone Scudder has known for a while already, a homeless kid who can get the kind of information that sometimes the PI cant or doesnt know how to obtain. Kenny knocks Albert unconscious with a bottle. What does this movie have in store? He reads about victims Marie Gotteskind and Leila Andresen. This weekend, yet another story is told about our leading action actor, entitled A Walk Among The Tombstones. Former cop Matt Scudder is now a private eye. [10], Filming began on March 3, 2013 in New York City. When the fourteen year-old daughter of a drug dealer is also kidnapped, Scudder heads up a group to rescue the teenager. And the camera looks down the gunsight as Matt takes aim and blows a third man off his feet. 2023 Vox Media, LLC. We also see a killer wrap the wire around a womans breast. He tells TJ that carrying a gun on the street is the same as putting it to his own forehead and pulling the trigger. [13] On October 18, 2013, Block tweeted that he had seen the film and revealed producers were aiming for a September 2014 release. It's a better film than the other reviews here would indicate, and a damn sight better than those Taken films. He goes down the basement and sees Kenny's dead body on the stairs (implying that Albert killed Kenny). Scudder leaves to send TJ away while Kenny plans a gruesome fate, only for Albert to kill him and Scudder - who's returned - to face him in a final battle. He also comes to care for a homeless kid named TJ, who he meets during his investigation. The elements are the same, with the case revolving around Scudders investigation into the kidnapping and dismemberment of a drug traffickers wife. Kenny brings Scudder to Yuri Landau's home, where the kidnappers call and arrange to exchange ransom for Lucia at a cemetery. Scudder reminds Kenny that there is enough evidence to put Albert behind bars for the rest of his life. He finds him in a hospital one day after a street gang beat down and learns that TJ has sickle cell anemia. In this film Liam Neeson plays Matt Scudder, a former cop turned unlicensed private detective. A WALK AMONG THE TOMBSTONES NOTE: This spoiler was submitted by Jeremy New York City, 1991 - Detective Matt Scudder (Liam Neeson) is in a car with his partner. As previously mentioned A Walk Among The Tombstones dials up the action from the novel, which includes giving the two main villains more development. Neither is it some kind of man-against-the-monsters supernatural thriller like the title might suggest. During a conversation with TJ, Scudder explains why he retired. The girl Scudder accidentally killed has the classic blood on a white blouse. There is also a four letter word hanging between them (starting with the letter l) that is beginning to gain some importance. Instead, in Blocks book, the finale is much more gruesome. He likes sitting in bars drinking coffee alongside unsavory characters. And this makes him a much more complicated character than the loner private investigator of Franks film. Albert manages to mumble "Y'know, I just wanted to-" before Matthew shoots him dead. Hes got the eight-year-sober chip in his pocket to prove it. As for the killers turning on each other, that shift doesnt need the excuse of the gunshot wound. Ireland. And in watching the film this past weekend, you can clearly see Franks moves to make Tombstones an action movie, while keeping the thematic texture and pulp grit of Blocks source material. Based on Lawrence Block's bestselling series of mystery novels, A Walk among the Tombstones stars Liam Neeson as Matt Scudder, an ex-NYPD cop who now works a. "I just wanted" Maybe "I just wanted to make Ray happy?". The film was released on September 19, 2014. Own it Now on Blu-ray, DVD & Digital HD Marvel Movies Ranked Worst to Best by Tomatometer, Jurassic Park Movies Ranked By Tomatometer, 10 Black Women Filmmakers Who Have Shaped the Cinema Landscape of the 21st Century, 10 LGBTQIA+ Women Who Became Trailblazers in Entertainment. Scudder, Kenny, Landau, Peter, and TJ drive to the cemetery. Firstly, there is no shootout in the graveyard, a sequence which seems invented purely for the sake of putting action on the screen. Sign up for our Email Newsletters here. So the changes made by Frank are understandable in that context, but they also make Scudder a less complex, more singularly driven man. i really liked it overal, it gave a bit of a gran torino vibe in the best possible way, the song during the credit's black hole sun really suited the atmosphere. [11] Producers invited author Block to the set to watch filming. Get The Latest IndieWire Alerts And Newsletters Delivered Directly To Your Inbox. Just leave us a message here and we will work on getting you verified. Interviews with leading film and TV creators about their process and craft. Hes fascinated by people who dont have control. While Kenny is downstairs, Albert wakes up. Good movie. A Walk Among the Tombstones isnt a kill-em-all Taken-style actioner. [23] In Variety, Andrew Barker found it a well-made thriller "with a good deal of panache and style".[24]. Drake, Usher, and Burna Boy to Headline J. Coles Dreamville Festival. And so, with the official movie tie-in book landing on our doorstep, we figured it was a good opportunity to investigate how the source material and movie were aligned and where changes were made, and how these choices affected the movie. Albert betrays the wounded Ray by strangling him to death with a metal wire while in the basement. (He also tithes a percentage of his fees to various churches.) See production, box office & company info, A Walk Among the Mystery, but lacking in some thrills, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon: Liam Neeson/Terry Gilliam/Tim McGraw. Its stated that the men rape their victims; we hear a tape recording of a cruelly chuckling man and a crying woman. Deadpan Snarker: When Scudder remarks that the duo cut Yuri's daughter's fingers, he dryly and mockingly responds they did so before a deal had . Former cop Matt Scudder is now a private eye. Liam Neeson had a bizarre rebirth as an action star thanks to 2008's Taken, where he played a retired special forces operative who cuts a bloody path through Paris to rescue his kidnapped daughter. Once Scudder questions him and he tells Scudder what happened, he's worried they'll find out and do the same to him as they did to their victims. Wanted to know if others saw it/thought about it. An unlicensed PI who lives in a bare, cheerless apartment, Scudder (Liam Neeson) doesnt want the job of hunting them down when he realizes that the latest victims husband (Dan Stevens, of Downton Abbey) made his money as a drug kingpin. We want to hear what you have to say but need to verify your email. While the film is more of a thriller than an action movie, a few setpieces were added like the graveyard shootout and the final fight to beef up the action quota. Asshole Victim: No one sheds any tears when Albert murders him out of sheer petulance. It made me HATE the villains though, so they did a great job of that. PREVIEW. Im glad they left T.J. out of the trailers, though. Its an interesting look at the process and adaptation, but warning: spoilers ahead. They probably were going to kill the last girl as well, but decided to go for the ransom instead. The bartender is killed by two armed men who enter the room. And he left him barely alive in the basement along with his dead partner in crime. Here are the main changes between A Walk Among The Tombstones' book and the Liam Neeson fronted movie. Blood covers a kitchen floor and walls, and somebody bleeds out on a stairway. `` Ray, '' and then he jumps off the roof to his own forehead and pulling trigger. 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