Liam Neeson heads an all-star Irish cast in this Netflix crime thriller.
Finbar (Liam Neeson) is a hired gun working for local crime boss Robert McHugh (Colm Meaney). Nearing retirement, Finbar hopes to leave a life of violence behind him and settle into his remote village, where he has befriended the local Garda (Ciaran Hinds) and his neighbour Rita (Niamh Cusack). However, when an IRA gang led by Doireann (Kerry Condon) arrives in town to hide out following a botched bomb attack, Finbar's violent skills are put to use to help save a young woman and protect those he cares about...
You could easily replace any of the above plot points and characters with a sleepy foothill town in the Sierra Nevada, swap the IRA for a group of border bandits, and change the time from '70s Ireland to 19th century America and you'd have a bog-standard Clint Eastwood movie on your hands. Indeed, Robert Lorenz, the movie's director, is a protégé of Eastwood and served as his producer and assistant director on the likes of 'Mystic River', 'The Bridges of Madison County', 'Million Dollar Baby' and most recently 'American Sniper'. Moreover, Liam Neeson is now firmly planted in the role of elder warrior in action cinema and has made a decent trade of it so far.
Yet, if this is to be one of his last action-orientated roles, giving way to his Leslie Nielsen era, 'In The Land of Saints and Sinners' isn't necessarily a bad one to go out on. For one, it directly addresses much of what's held Neeson back for so long. Sure, he's more than comfortable of slapping people around the place, shooting off pistols and shotguns with a grim finesse, but he's also a versatile actor capable so much more but often hamstrung by unimaginative directors and scripts - not unlike this very movie, in fact. Still and all, it's fun to see so many Irish actors sharing screentime together and probably having a blast doing it.
Kerry Condon revels in playing the hardened IRA commander who routinely berates her minions like a cartoon villain, while Jack Gleeson's dirtbag moustache is doing wonders for dispelling any memory of King Joffrey. Ciaran Hinds and Niamh Cusack are in supporting roles to Neeson's character, seeking to humanise the hitman in a way that speaks to Neeson's own warmth and gregariousness. Colm Meaney even turns up as a fusspot fixer for a scene or two before he's offed in comical fashion. When there's a wealth of talent on screen like this, it's more than a little frustrating to see them deployed and arranged in such unimaginative and stilted ways.
'In The Land of Saints and Sinners' plays like a cheesy old-fashioned crime thriller, never quite as knowing or savvy as you'd hope, and not quite so throwback as to be fun and entertaining. The action is fine, if a little pedestrian. The script is pretty dull, but it's enlivened by committed performances. Donegal looks nice and windswept, but having Drumcondra - literally metres away from Croke Park, in fact - double for a back street in Belfast just adds to the hokey feeling of it all. In the end, 'In The Land of Saints and Sinners' carries itself with a grim gravitas, even if it is sometimes stale.