A WALK AMONG THE TOMBSTONES (C+)

Bottom Line: I know the trailers have been selling this like it’s basically TAKEN 3 – but it’s not – and anyone expecting the level of action a TAKEN 3 might deliver will be sorely disappointed…which they fully deserve for even wanting a TAKEN 3 movie in the first place.  Based on the popular series of books from author Lawrence Block, this is a hard-nosed, wearily gritty and deliberately disciplined piece of slow-burn, detective story-noir cinema.  Seemingly the best he’s been in years, Liam Neeson – as an eight years sober, cop-turned-loner detective, confidently shuffles us through a no frills storyline of danger, drugs and grizzly abductions  - a no man’s land of corruption inhabited by kingpins, crypt-keepers and street-living kids.  Light on gun-play and perhaps a tad too long, this is nevertheless an extremely violent and fairly enthralling, character-driven, low-key story that coasts on the always-at-the-ready stoicism of its A-list star.  This isn’t another below average, no brain Neeson action flick – TOMBSTONES digs a little deeper.

Starring: Liam Neeson, Dan Stevens and David Harbour

Directed by: Scott Frank (wrote and directed THE LOOKOUT; wrote DEAD AGAIN, MALICE, GET SHORTY, OUT OF SIGHT, MINORITY REPORT and THE WOLVERINE)

Running time: 114 minutes

Studio description: 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. When Scudder reluctantly agrees to help a heroin trafficker (Dan Stevens) hunt down the men who kidnapped and then brutally murdered his wife, the PI learns that this is not the first time these men have committed this sort of twisted crime...nor will it be the last. Blurring the lines between right and wrong, Scudder races to track the deviants through the backstreets of New York City before they kill again. (C) Universal

Official site: www.awalkamongthetombstones.com