A Walk Among the Tombstones (film)

A Walk Among the Tombstones is a 2014 American neo-noir action thriller film directed and written by Scott Frank, and based on the 1992 novel of the same name by Lawrence Block. It stars Liam Neeson, Dan Stevens, David Harbour, and Boyd Holbrook. The film was released on September 19, 2014. The film received mixed reviews from critics and grossed $62 million worldwide.
In 1991, alcoholic NYPD Detective Matt Scudder survives a shootout with three criminals who kill the bartender at the bar where he's drinking. Eight years later, Scudder is retired and sober, working as an unlicensed private investigator. Peter Kristo, a fellow Alcoholics Anonymous member, brings Scudder to his brother Kenny, a wealthy drug trafficker. Kenny explains that his wife Carrie was abducted, and though he delivered the ransom, the kidnappers dismembered her, leaving him a tape recording of her brutal rape and murder. Agreeing to find the killers, Scudder visits the New York Public Library to research similar murders and meets TJ, a homeless teen with a knack for detective work.
Scudder investigates the death of another woman, Leila Andresen, whose dismembered body was found in Green-Wood Cemetery. He discovers that her fiancé is tied to the drug trade, and confronts Jonas Loogan, the cemetery groundskeeper. Admitting that he helped the two men who killed Leila, Jonas kills himself. Scudder learns that another victim, Marie Gotteskind, was an undercover DEA agent murdered by the same killers, and realizes they are using her files to target drug dealers, kidnapping and killing their loved ones.
After being accosted by DEA agents, Scudder confronts Peter, who had informed on Kenny to Marie, unknowingly providing the information that allowed the killers to kidnap Carrie. TJ is beaten by neighborhood dealers for stealing a handgun, and Scudder visits him in the hospital. He reveals that a young girl was killed in the shootout in 1991, prompting him to leave the police force and his drinking behind.
Kenny asks Scudder to help fellow trafficker Yuri Landau, whose daughter Lucia has been taken by the killers, Ray and Albert. When the kidnappers call, Scudder convinces them to return Lucia alive in exchange for one million dollars. Meeting at the cemetery, Scudder delivers the money and Lucia is reunited with her father, but Albert discovers much of the cash is counterfeit. In the ensuing shootout, Peter is killed while Albert and a wounded Ray escape in their van, unaware TJ is hiding in the back.
TJ calls Scudder, leading him and Kenny to the killers' house, while Albert kills Ray. Leaving Albert's fate in Kenny's hands, Scudder sends TJ to his apartment in a taxi, but returns to find Kenny dead. Albert overpowers Scudder with a garotte and attacks him with a cleaver, but Scudder subdues him with Ray's taser before shooting him in the head. Watching from afar as police arrive at the scene, Scudder returns home.
Scott Frank first read the novel A Walk Among the Tombstones by Lawrence Block in 1998. The book is the tenth in a series featuring the character of Matthew Scudder. Frank said about the book: "What was interesting about this story is that it wasn't just a mystery, it was also frightening, intense— it was a real thriller. I always knew that if I was ever going to do any of the Scudder books it would be this one. Frank's screenplay also features elements from the first novel in the series The Sins of the Fathers and the ninth, A Dance at the Slaughterhouse. In May 2002 it was announced that Harrison Ford was in talks to play Scudder with Joe Carnahan also in talks to direct for Universal Pictures for a proposed start on production in January 2003. Ford subsequently dropped out of the project. According to Frank, Ford was concerned about the darkness in the character of Scudder. After Ford dropped out, Universal put the project in turnaround. In 2014 Frank said: "At the time, movies like this were not getting made. Without him it didn't stand a chance. And there wasn't really anybody the right age that could help us get it made."
In June 2011 it was announced that Cross Creek Pictures would finance the film with D. J. Caruso in talks to direct. Caruso subsequently dropped out to make Invertigo for Sony Pictures. In May 2012 Liam Neeson was announced as Scudder, with Frank himself directing, and production slated to begin February 2013. Frank stated that without Neeson, the film would not have been made. Block supported the casting of Neeson, saying he had thought of the actor as an ideal choice for Scudder ever since seeing Michael Collins.
Filming began on March 3, 2013 in New York City. Locations featured in the film include Green-Wood Cemetery. Filming at the cemetery had to be adandoned one time due to lightning. The kitchen and basement of the killers Ray and Albert was built at Stage 1 of Broadway Stages in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. Block visited the set several times and filmed a cameo which ended up being cut from the film.
After the film was edited Frank felt there were problems with the cut of the film. He screened it for friends Tony Gilroy and Steven Soderbergh. Soderbergh told Frank that he had not edited the film the way it was shot. As Frank explained: "As we started shooting, there were times where I would say, 'Okay. We have to get a little more coverage because they’re going to make me cut. I know they’re going to make me cut.' I started having this jacked story conversation in my head as we were shooting. 'I need to get something here because I know they’re going to want it.' I would design super fancy shots. I’d say, 'We need to have more of the kind of shot I call ‘Look Ma, I’m directing.’ There would be a bunch of those. Then, I cut the movie, and I looked at the movie, and it was early on in the process, and it didn’t work. It wasn’t working for me and I couldn’t figure out why. It seemed to be fighting itself, and I couldn’t understand what it was. So I showed it to my toughest friend I know, Steven Soderbergh. He watched the movie, and the first thing he said when the lights came up is, 'You didn’t cut it the way you shot it. You need to cut this movie the way you shot this movie.' It was not because anyone told me to do anything. It was a momentary failure of nerve on my part and we changed the movie. We then stuck to our guns. We cut the movie the way it was supposed to be cut from that point on." Over three weeks Frank and Soderbergh recut the entire film. Gilroy suggested cutting out the character of Jo Durkin, a cop from Scudder's past played by Ruth Wilson. Frank praised Wilson's performance, but came to realise that the character had to be removed as Scudder was a stronger character on his own. Another subplot that was cut featured Neeson's real-life son Micheál Richardson as Scudder's son. Neeson supported the removal of this, saying "It didn't belong, it cluttered things up." In total, twenty minutes were removed from the original cut of the film.
The MPAA classified the film as rated R for "strong violence, disturbing images, language, and brief nudity". On January 30, 2014, it was announced the film would be released on September 19, 2014.
Universal Pictures Home Entertainment released A Walk Among the Tombstones on DVD and Blu-ray on January 13, 2015.
A Walk Among the Tombstones grossed $26 million in the United States and Canada, and $36.1 million in other territories, for a worldwide total gross of $62.1 million, against its $28 million budget.
The film earned $428,000 from Thursday night from 1,918 theaters, and $4.7 million from 2,712 theaters on its opening day. It debuted at number two at the box office on its opening weekend earning $13.1 million behind The Maze Runner ($32.5 million).
On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 68% based on 165 reviews, with an average rating of 6.20/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "A Walk Among the Tombstones doesn't entirely transcend its genre clichés, but it does offer Liam Neeson one of his more compelling roles in recent memory, and that's often enough." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 57 out of 100, based on 36 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B−" on an A+ to F scale.
Richard Roeper gave the film a B+ rating, calling the film "a stylish and smart thriller". Manohla Dargis in The New York Times called it "one of those rare cinematic offerings: intelligent pulp" but also noted that the film "can be tough to watch, particularly its fleeting images of tortured women". In Variety, Andrew Barker found it a well-made thriller "with a good deal of panache and style". On October 18, 2013, Block tweeted that he had seen the film, praising the performance of Neeson and Frank's writing and direction.
Neeson stated that both he and Frank wanted to do a sequel but that it would be dependent on the box-office performance of the film. Neeson hoped that in any sequel that they could delve more into Scudder's past.