Run All Night review: Can we handle another Liam Neeson thriller?

Director: Jaume Collet-Serra; Screenwriter: Brad Ingelsby; Starring: Liam Neeson, Ed Harris, Joel Kinnaman, Common; Running time: 114 mins; Certificate: 15

Run All Night? More like Plod For 114 Minutes. This pedestrian thriller plonks poor Liam Neeson back in a leather jacket and armed with a gun for another one of those 'Taken Lite' outings. It's a big disappointment given the star's last collaboration with director Jaume Collet-Serra was the hugely enjoyable Non-Stop.

It's an old school tale of divided loyalty that lacks the creative ingenuity required to make it stand out from all the other pretenders. Neeson effortlessly elicits empathy in his role as Jimmy Conlon, a beleaguered, alcoholic hitman who has to choose between saving his estranged son Mike (Joel Kinnaman) or remaining devoted to the honorable but lethal figure of his mob boss Shawn Maguire (Ed Harris).

If the revelation that Ed Harris is playing a character called 'Shawn Maguire' amuses you, then that's probably ruined the most enjoyable moment of the movie. Sorry. Sadly it has nothing to do with the iconic actor donning a set of curtains to pay homage to English legend Sean Maguire, who enthralled us while roaming the countryside in Dangerfield, munching Pauline's fry-ups with Arthur Fowler in EastEnders and incurring the wrath of Mrs McClusky in Grange Hill. What a missed opportunity.

That last paragraph was a superfluous addition to this review, much like Collet-Serra's visual gimmicks are a needless distraction to Run All Night's story. Rather that cut between the Brooklyn locations, the camera tends to pan back over the city then zoom in on another location and segue straight into the action there. Technically it looks magnificent, but narratively it only serves to stall momentum every time this is deployed. Which is a lot.

It's an old school tale of divided loyalty that lacks the creative ingenuity required to make it stand out from all the other pretenders.

The two veteran lead actors come close to rescuing the project. While Neeson is too overfamiliar in this type of role these days, he adds a pleasing degree of vulnerability to his portrayal of conflicted Jimmy. Ed Harris is another star with undoubted screen presence, and it's pleasing to see him in quite a substantial part that he plays to perfection and gives an impressive depth to. Beneath Shawn Maguire's menace, you can see exactly what makes him tick. The pair's scenes together, which touch upon the nature of their bond, are never less than enthralling.

If the focus had been on character study rather than box-ticking action thriller with needless pyrotechnics, Run All Night could have lingered on in the memory and given Neeson and Harris the caliber of movie they deserve. Or failing that, a Sean Maguire biopic.