Run All Night (film)

Plot

Haunted by his past, former Irish mob enforcer Jimmy "The Gravedigger" Conlon has become an angry drunk. His son Mike, a retired professional boxer who mentors at-risk kids at the local gym, is disgusted by his father's actions. Mike refuses to call him "Dad" or involve him in the lives of his daughters.

Jimmy's old boss and closest friend, Shawn Maguire, rejects an offer to allow the sale of Albanian heroin in his territory. His son Danny, who received a large fee to arrange the deal, is told to return the money or suffer the consequences. Mike, working as a chauffeur, takes the two Albanian creditors to Danny's house. The deal goes bad once Danny reveals that he doesn't have the money, and a brief shootout ensues which kills one of the Albanians. The other Albanian, wounded, stumbles out of Danny's flat and attempts to escape, only to be shot dead by Danny. The events are witnessed by Mike and his mentee Legs and are captured on Legs' phone. Danny spots them and attempts to kill Mike, but he escapes.

Jimmy has Mike promise not to expose Danny, but Mike refuses to listen to his estranged father. As he is leaving Mike's house, he spots Danny trying to kill his son and shoots him before he can fire. Shawn sends two corrupt police officers to pick up Mike and kill him, but Jimmy rescues him and takes him to his family. Mike still doesn't like or trust his dad but agrees to give his father that night to fix the situation, recognizing he'd have been murdered on two occasions if Jimmy hadn't killed Danny or the crooked cops.

Jimmy meets Shawn and tells him that Danny was about to kill Mike, and that he might have to speak to the cops about his criminal past (Jimmy had a tense earlier run-in with Det. Harding, a good cop who hasn't been able to prove Jimmy's responsibility for a long list of homicides). Shawn furiously says that the cops care nothing for Jimmy's information, and tells Jimmy he will kill Mike and his family before watching Jimmy collapse on finding this out--and only then will he "let you die".

Jimmy sends Mike's family to a remote cabin and takes Mike with him to retrieve proof of his innocence, but Andrew Price, an assassin hired by Shawn who loathes his old rival Jimmy, intercepts them before they can collect the evidence. Jimmy is able to subdue him but is wounded in the process. Jimmy later contacts Det. Harding on the phone. Harding says that witnesses claim Mike was the shooter instead of Danny (his expression makes it clear he thinks these claims are bullshit), but Jimmy makes a deal with him: he will prove Mike was innocent and then turn himself in with a list of all the people he murdered in his mob career.

The two hide at Jimmy's brother Eddie's house, where an incensed Eddie reveals that Jimmy is loyal only to Shawn - he once killed his own cousin to prevent him testifying against Shawn and will do the same to Mike. Disgusted and unwilling to trust his father, Mike leaves Jimmy and returns to his family. Giving up on the idea he can protect his son and Shawn at the same time, Jimmy declares war on Shawn and murders all of his lieutenants at Shawn's bar. He then tracks Shawn down to the tracks near the bar and shoots him, walking up to Shawn and holding him in his arms as Shawn bleeds to death.

Mike arrives at the cabin and alerts the police to his location. Jimmy soon arrives, shocking Mike by confirming he has killed Shawn and his gang, and Mike finally introduces him to his grandchildren. Suddenly, Price returns and attacks the cabin, fatally shooting Jimmy and then hunting down Mike. Mike is cornered by Price, but Jimmy kills him at the last second. Mike runs up to Jimmy and finally calls him "Dad". The police arrive and confirm Legs' evidence has cleared Mike as Jimmy dies, holding the list of his past victims as promised. In the film's epilogue, Mike is back working as a boxing trainer and chauffeur and having a happy life with his wife and daughters, and he looks wistfully at a photo of himself and Jimmy from long ago on his dresser before he heads out to his shift.

Production

In January 2012, Warner Bros. acquired Brad Ingelsby's script The All-Nighter for a six-figure sum. During the following November, Liam Neeson entered negotiations to star in the film and became a lock in January 2013. At this time, director Jaume Collet-Serra became attached to the film and the title was changed to Run All Night.

Principal photography began on October 3, 2013.

Music

The musical score for Run All Night was composed by Junkie XL. Discussing the leitmotifs, Junkie XL said, "I thought it was much more interesting to look at this movie from an emotional point of view instead of from an actioner point of view." The score was recorded at the Eastwood Scoring Stage at Warner Bros. Studios, featuring a 70-piece string orchestra and a large low brass ensemble. A soundtrack album was released on March 10, 2015 through WaterTower Music.

Instrumentation:

Other songs featured in the film include:

Box office

Run All Night grossed $26.5 million in North America and $45.1 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $71.6 million, against a budget of $50 million.

In its opening weekend, the film grossed $11 million, finishing second at the box office behind Cinderella ($70.1 million).

Critical reception

The film received both mixed and positive reviews from critics. The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes lists a 61% approval rating, based on 170 reviews, with a rating average of 5.7/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Liam Neeson is in typically fine form, but Run All Night suffers from a convoluted plot and workmanlike execution." On Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating, the film has a score of 59 out of 100, based on 34 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". According to CinemaScore, audiences gave the film a grade of "A-" on an A+ to F scale.