Balade entre les tombes

Ne vous attendez pas à un autre film d'action de Neeson. La seule scène d'action se déroule dans les premières minutes. Le film est plus proche de 8MM de Schumacher. Mais il a peur de plonger dans l'obscurité et d'appuyer sur la gâchette. Et l'aura des principaux méchants, qui devrait donner la chair de poule, est allégée et dévalorisée pour des raisons incompréhensibles. La philosophie de la culpabilité et de la rédemption ne fonctionne pas vraiment non plus - dans l'une des scènes finales, qui est censée être originale, elle est littéralement un coup dans l'œil. Neeson est correct, mais le meilleur est Ólaffson, même dans un petit rôle (il était finalement le meilleur aussi dans La Vie rêvée de Walter Mitty). [vu au Cinemark 18, Howard Hughes Promenade, LA] (20/09/2014)

Un rôle classique pour Liam Neeson. Un jour, je m'amuserai à compter le nombre de fois où il a joué les solitaires déchirés, les alcooliques ou les (ex) flics. Peu importe, il me plaît à tous les coups. Mais ce film est assez spécifique. Il dégage une ambiance particulière et je me permettrais même de le qualifier de film noir moderne. Le problème réside dans son scénario squelettique qui le fait traîner en longueur et manquer d’entrain. Je lui mets pile-poil trois étoiles, ce qui est peu pour Liam Neeson. (27/03/2015)

Liam Neeson again plays a first-class ass-kicker, but unlike Bill Marks, his character has overcome alcoholism (emphasised here more than in the book) and, unlike Bryan Mills, he makes more room for psychology and diplomacy. For a viewer wanting another furious action spectacle, it may even seem that Oskar Schindler will talk the violent psychopaths to death. Personally, I welcomed the consistency of the hard-boiled stylisation, even though it involves reducing women to the status of passive victims. After brutal sexual crimes have been perpetrated against them, the men can avenge them and, in a certain sense, thus redeem themselves (the motif of redemption is quite forcefully pushed into the foreground in the climax, when we have to listen to all twelve steps of the Alcoholics Anonymous programme). Women’s suffering serves only as a pretext for heroic deeds and the moral purification of flawed men. The only relatively active female character from the book (Scudder’s girlfriend, Elaine) was cut out of the film in the interest of better narrative flow. Of course, classic noir films weren’t any more considerate in their handling of female characters, but wouldn’t it have been enough to emulate the classics only at the style level? With its longer, mostly static shots and claustrophobic compositions together with muted colours and a gloomy soundtrack, that style elicits the need to escape into another, more colourful and kinder world. However, the image of a corrupt society with twisted values is taken to such an extreme that the film’s most appealing scenes are the perverted fantasies of serial killers (we see the first one in the opening credits). Such a film naturally cannot have a happy ending, though the last scene may at first give the impression that it will. However, in the context of the immediately preceding events, which most radically deviate from the book (apparently because of the more active role given to Scudder, whose character is otherwise paradoxically based on the passive acceptance of violence), the “superhero” aspect mainly raises concerns about whether there is a way out of the endless cycle of violence that only inspires more such behaviour. 75% (30/10/2014)

I do not know how Liam Neeson does it, but since Star Wars ended, he has taken on the role of the toughest and most straightforward guy in the film industry. First it was Taken, then Unknown, followed by The Grey and Non-Stop, until he landed with the character of Matt Scudder at the end of 2014, who is basically the same as in his previous movies, and I don't mind it at all. Sometimes, I too would need to act like Liam does in his movies. His films are a great school for me. Among the headstones, it is not only about one person's character. It is also an absolutely honest crime story that ends exactly where you can imagine according to the title. And it is shot so well that five stars would not be enough. By the way, I am also happy that the great Icelander Ólafur Darri Ólafsson got some space. Although his role was not that big, he fulfilled his purpose one hundred percent... and that definitely counts. (31/12/2014)

Neeson walking for some money. First I have to say that Liam Neeson is one of my favourites, but this film is definitely his weakest. There is literally nothing interesting and certainly nothing that I haven't seen in any other film that happens here. It's cliched and boring at the same time. There is very little action and it is so uninterestingly shot that you hardly even notice it. Fans of slow, boring and uninteresting films built solely on story, which I also found unexceptional here, might be happier. I haven't had as much trouble watching a film to the end as I did here in a long time. (15/10/2014)