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Liam Neeson
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Kate Walsh
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Robert Patrick
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Jai Courtney
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Jeffrey Donovan
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Anthony Ramos
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Jasmine Caphas Jones
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Birol Tarkan Yildiz
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Jose Alves
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Janelle Feigley
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Adam Taper
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Devon Diep
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Liam Neeson |
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Kate Walsh |
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Robert Patrick |
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Jai Courtney |
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Jeffrey Donovan |
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Anthony Ramos |
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Jasmine Caphas Jones |
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Birol Tarkan Yildiz |
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Jose Alves |
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Janelle Feigley |
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Adam Taper |
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Devon Diep |
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Liam Neeson |
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Kate Walsh |
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Robert Patrick |
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Jai Courtney |
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Jeffrey Donovan |
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Anthony Ramos |
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Jasmine Caphas Jones |
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Birol Tarkan Yildiz |
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Jose Alves |
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Janelle Feigley |
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Adam Taper |
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Devon Diep |
Although already a hugely successful and respected actor, with acclaimed roles in such films as Schindler’s List (1993), Gangs Of New York (’02), Kinsey (’04) and Batman Begins (’05), Liam Neeson’s career took a major unexpected diversion when he agreed to take the role of ex-CIA operative Bryan Mills in the French thriller Taken (’08), the Luc Besson production which became an amazing global sleeper hit, taking $226.83m (@£172.4m) worldwide against a budget of just $25m (@£19m), the Pierre Morel-directed film being a startlingly ruthless and unrepentantly violent thriller, arguably through being a French indie rather than an American studio production, which propelled the then-56-year-old actor into another career arc, that of the senior action star. Neeson has been remarkably prolific in the years which have followed, and in the thirty-one features made in the twelve years between Taken and Honest Thief, and in which he has a substantial role, not a cameo or just providing a voice, some thirteen, and mostly the most high-profile, have been action movies or thrillers, with Neeson usually playing the stoic, rugged hero / anti-hero, on some sort of mission or vengeance trail, ranging from such as A Walk Among The Tombstones and Non-Stop (both ’14), Run All Night (’15) or The Commuter (’18), being commercial and largely critical successes, earning strong reviews, to the rather less well received (to put it mildly) Taken 3 (also ’14), but usually the audience know what to expect, and the critics judge them as typical Liam Neeson action fayre, which was exactly the response Honest Thief, the second feature by producer turned director Mark Williams, received.
Through the coronavirus delaying the US release until the third weekend of October, the lack of serious competition allowed the film to, somewhat surprisingly, play in IMAX cinemas (at least those that were open) and top the (limited) box-office chart, rather than just having a quick scoot round the multiplexes, like a ‘normal’ Neeson thriller, before finding it’s natural home on DVD, cable and other ancillary services which is where these films truly prove their worth.
Basically director and co-writer Williams provides exactly what the audience for this sort of thing will want, with Neeson showing just how comfortably he fits into this sort of role, wanting to do the right thing and only being forced into violence by circumstances, being doublecrossed, as well as a having a reasonably complicated plot, and, for once, a romantic angle, reminding audiences that the actor can do other things than convincingly batter bad guys to a lumpy paste, and having made the deeply touching cancer drama Ordinary Love, opposite the superb Lesley Manville, the year before.
The supporting cast is intriguing, with Kate Walsh (TV’s Grey’s Anatomy and her character’s spin-off, Private Practise), at 53 a more age-appropriate love interest, even thought the on-screen character is rather younger than the actual actress, and a more capable and involved character than in a lot of action films these days; Robert Patrick, forever Terminator 2’s liquid-metal T-1000; Jai Courtney (Jack Reacher / Suicide Squad), obviously enjoying himself in his character’s barely contained villainy; Anthony Ramos (A Star Is Born / Godzilla, King Of The Monsters), and Jeffrey Donovan (Sicario 2 / TV’s Burn Notice) as the permanently stern-faces Meyers. The technical side is also highly professional, including Marvel veterans Shelly Johnson, DoP on Captain America: The First Avenger, and film editor Michael P. Shawver, known for Black Panther, with veteran composer Mark Isham (Billy Bathgate / The Mechanic) providing the score.
The critics largely took it at face value, RogerEbert.com. saying ‘Neeson is solid and reliable at the center, as always. He takes everything seriously - every gravelly threat, every gut punch - and at 68, he’s an incredible physical specimen to behold. But while he gives it his all, he’s not getting much in return. Perfectly serviceable and utterly forgettable, Honest Thief nonetheless offers a few pleasing details to keep it from being a total slog’, echoed by The Hollywood Reporter with ‘Running a sleek 90 minutes before the credits roll, [film] is certainly efficient if not exactly original, with writer/director Williams infusing it with enough quirky character touches - such as Tom crankily complaining how much he hates his 'In and Out Bandit' moniker - to distract from the derivative feeling of it all’. The Chicago Tribune decided ‘It’s a movie about a movie star taking out the trash, leaving behind a lower body count than usual, but executing his duties faithfully, and with a predictable dash - the right kind of predictable - of world-weary charisma’, the same mindset as The Washington Post which called it ‘A little bit itchy, maybe, and smelling of mothballs, but deeply, inexplicably comforting, in these uncertain times’. Less beguiled were The Associated Press, saying it ‘ …is a predictable and slack affair, relying on eerie music, dark sets and smoke to create tension. There is no particular set of skills here’.
