A Walk Among The Tombstones

A Walk Among The Tombstones, the latest film from writer/director Scott Frank was mediocre at best. It could have been a lot better, more scintillating, and far more frightening. It starts off somewhat interesting but then if peters out in the end. I was expecting more than what I got from the story and the directors vision, though I was pleased with some of the performances. It's those performances that inspire me to bestow A Walk Among The Tombstones two buckets of Killer Korn.











I have a friend who is an ENORMOUS fan of author Lawrence Block, the man behind the book this movie was adapted from. I am going to tell her to skip this movie because at best it may sour her on the book and at worse it may piss her off. I am sick and tired of movies that don't answer the obvious questions that arise regarding plot, motivations, and tactics and this movie must be thrown into that pile. A Walk Among The Tombstones blew chance after chance to be a gritty and frightening procedural. It started off that way but it lost its mojo somewhere around the second act and I attribute that to a few factors. First off, if you are going to create monsters, keep them monstrous. Humanizing the monsters takes away their power, it weakens the scare factor by ten, and it puts the good guys on equal footing with the monsters. Liam Neeson's Matt Scudder is an ex-cop who is the good guy which suddenly becomes just as intimidating as the monsters thanks to some dubious directing. You no longer fear if Scudder will survive the eventual confrontation with the malevolent force in the film, you start to wonder how he will.

The story starts off good. Scudder, a recovering alcoholic is approached by a fellow 12 stepper Howie who is played by Eric Nelsen. Howie's brother Kenny, played by Dan Stevens needs a service rendered that only Scudder can provide. Kenny's wife was kidnapped and although the ransom had been paid, his wife was slaughtered anyway. Kenny wants those responsible brought to him and he's willing to pay Scudder handsomely to do that. Researching other missing women Scudder comes across a street wise homeless kid name TJ played by Brian Bradley in just his second movie. He's the charm this movie was devoid of before he showed up on the screen. The two hit it off and develop a solid friendship and should there be a sequel to Tombstones, TJ and Scudder's relationship would be a reason worthy of buying a ticket. In the end though, the monsters aren't that intimidating, they are more frightening in the trailer honestly. One of them actually pulls of a Harry Houdini like escape that is never truly explained.

I was hoping for something powerful and instead what I got was a watered down version of something that could have been an incredibly strong drink, the kind that you feel as it goes down. This was a light beer and that was upsetting. The trailer is more intense than the movie. The music by Carlos Rafael Rivera was moody and dark, too bad it was wasted on a light beer. The cinematography was crisp and clear and had impressive moments thanks to Mihai Malaimare Jr. I would have liked to see what he could have done with a more impactful story that answered some of the questions it created as opposed to leaving the viewer hanging. I recommend skipping A Walk Among The Tombstones and read the book instead. You might enjoy this story more that way and I'll see you at the theater.