Taglines: People are afraid of all the wrong things.
An ex-NYPD cop and recovering alcoholic haunted by regrets, Matt Scudder (Liam Neeson) has a lot to make up for. When a series of kidnappings targeting the wives of drug dealers escalates to grisly murder, Scudder reluctantly agrees to help a heroin trafficker (Dan Stevens) and his brother (Boyd Holbrook) hunt the two men down and bring them to bloody justice. An unlicensed private detective, Matt gets help from his former colleague (Ruth Wilson) and a homeless 17 year-old artist, TJ (Astro). Operating just outside the law to track down the monsters responsible, Scudder stops just short of becoming one himself.
A Walk Among the Tombstones is an American crime thriller film based on a novel by Lawrence Block of the same name, directed and written by Scott Frank. It stars Liam Neeson, Dan Stevens, Boyd Holbrook, and Sebastian Roché. The film was released on September 19, 2014.
About the Production
In 1991 Manhattan, Matthew Scudder, an off-duty New York Police Department (NYPD) officer, is unexpectedly caught up in an armed robbery at a bar where officers drink for free. Scudder guns down the robbers; however, one of his bullets inadvertently strikes a seven year old girl, killing her instantly. Shaken from the experience, Scudder quits the force with full commendations from the police force, and spends the next eight years in Alcoholics Anonymous while moonlighting as an unlicensed private eye.
One night, after an AA meeting, Scudder is approached by the brother of a man named Kenny, seeking to employ the PI to locate his wife’s killer. Kenny explains that his wife was abducted for a ransom and that the kidnappers killed his wife after he paid the $400,000 ransom, cutting her up in small pieces and returning her dismembered. Scudder correctly concludes Kenny is a drug dealer due to his immediate access to a large amount of cash and his being unwilling to call the FBI or local police for help. Reluctantly, Scudder accepts the job.
At a local library, Scudder meets an adolescent named TJ, who helps Scudder locate information on the net concerning similar cases to Kenny’s. Scudder eventually traces the kidnappers’ MO and later meets a cemetery groundsman who discovered one of the victim’s remains. After trailing the groundsman back to his house, Scudder learns that he was an accomplice for one of the murders, and has had trouble getting over his role in the homicide. The groundsman explains that he met the two men whom Scudder is after in a movie store; both men apparently shared a fetish-like interest in death. Scudder learns one of the two men goes by the name Ray, but before he can glean any further information, the groundsman abruptly kills himself by stepping off the roof of his apartment building. Upon further investigation, Scudder determines that the two men he is after were at one point somehow affiliated with the DEA, and have been targeting drug dealers to extort money.
In a residential neighborhood, Ray and his accomplice prepare to abduct another woman; however, Ray cancels the kidnapping at the last minute. As the two prepare to leave, Ray observes the target’s daughter leaving a house, and retools their kidnapping attempt to take the girl. When Scudder learns of the kidnapping, he has TJ bring a box of his old police equipment to the victim’s house, and instructs the victim to refuse payment unless they can prove the girl is still alive, correctly guessing that the kidnappers will kill the girl regardless of whether the ransom is paid. Scudder lures Ray and his accomplice out by forcing them to pick up the ransom in person. After the ransom is paid, a shoot-out occurs, injuring Ray. The kidnappers flee the drop site, unaware that TJ managed to sneak into their van.
A Walk Among the Tombstones
Directed by: Scott Frank
Starring: Liam Neeson, Dan Stevens, Boyd Holbrook, Sebastian Roché, Luciano Acuna Jr, Kim Rosen, Laura Birn, Dan Stevens, Stephanie Andujar
Screenplay by: Scott Frank
Production Design by: David Brisbin
Cinematography by: Mihai Malaimare Jr.
Film Editing by: Jill Savitt
Costume Design by: Betsy Heimann
Set Decoration by: Cherish M. Hale
Music by: Carlos Rafael Rivera
MPAA Rating: R for strong violence, disturbing images, language and brief nudity.
Studio: Universal Pictures
Release Date: September 19, 2014
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