A Walk Among the Tombstones

There might have been a compelling character study within A Walk Among the Tombstones, if the main character was worth studying. Or there could have been an exciting crime thriller, if only the crime were very thrilling.

Instead, we’re left with a stylish but familiar slice of old-fashioned New York noir based on a Lawrence Block novel, which finds Liam Neeson again chasing kidnappers within his vigilante comfort zone.

Neeson plays Matthew Scudder, a troubled ex-cop and recovering alcoholic who works as a private detective on the streets of Manhattan. Typical of his shady clientele, he’s hired by a drug dealer (Dan Stevens) who wants revenge on the men who abducted and killed his wife despite collecting the ransom.

Operating outside the law, Scudder begins piecing together clues by talking to everyone from a creepy cemetery groundskeeper (Olafur Darri Olafsson) to a Russian drug trafficker (Sebastian Roche) whose daughter also was kidnapped and becomes the key piece of evidence. Scudder also finds an ally in a homeless teenager (Brian “Astro” Bradley) who frequents the library and becomes obsessed with helping to solve the case.

As directed by Scott Frank (The Lookout), who also adapted the screenplay, gives the film an evocative and atmospheric texture, and he sets the story against a backdrop of Y2K paranoia that creates a sense of unease. Yet while the mystery itself is mildly intriguing, the characterizations aren’t fleshed out enough to generate sufficient emotional investment.

In the case of Scudder — who has been featured in other films from Block novels over the years — the eccentrics he meets during his investigation tend to be more interesting than he is. An example is Bradley (Earth to Echo), whose role might seem like an annoying comic-relief sidekick, but is actually a precocious loner using streetwise bravado to mask his physical and emotional vulnerability, and his partnership with Scudder brings out the humanity in each of them.

Neeson always makes a suitable hero, of course, this time with plenty of hard-boiled brooding to go along with a New York accent. Yet while A Walk Among the Tombstones features occasional suspense and a couple of cool plot twists, it seems more concerned with dark potboiler mechanics than anything beneath the surface.

Rated R, 113 minutes.