Liam Neeson returns to form in this period crime thriller, the actor as a reformed hitman in 1970s rural Donegal where he’s up against an IRA gang who want to make him pay for the murder of one of their own.
If you were to look at Liam Neeson’s filmography, you’d have to go back a good few years to find a movie worthy of his talents. The Irish actor reinvented himself back in 2008 with the mammoth action film Taken, and lots – and I mean LOTS of similarly themed movies have followed, along with two direct sequels to the aforementioned. Neeson has dozens of movies to his name since Taken, swerving across the genres but clearly he’s enjoying beating the crap out of people in actioners like Non-Stop, The Commuter and Run All Night, all of which were pretty decent, to the most recent release, last year’s Retribution which, well… wasn’t. In The Land Of Saints and Sinners slots in towards the top of the pile – a slow-burning though ultimately rewarding affair from filmmaker Robert Lorenz, making the shift in recent years to the director’s chair after producing a slew of excellent features, including a bunch with Clint Eastwood, including the Oscar-winning Million Dollar Baby. This is actually his second film with Neeson as a director following their work on 2021’s The Marksman.
We open to 1974 Belfast – a city centre street where a pub is being eyed by a group of people in a nearby car. A bag is placed nearby, a bomb lurking inside. We are well into the period of the Troubles and this attack is one carried out by the IRA, specifically Kerry Condon’s Doireann McCann, one of the four responsible. This particular bombing has not gone how it was intended, so they escape to rural Donegal and the remote, coastal town of Glencolmcille to hide until the heat around them dies down.
Also inhabiting this tiny town is Liam Neeson’s Finbar Murphy, a hitman on the brink of breaking away from his violent life to plant seeds in his garden and become a respected member of the community. He spends his days shooting bean cans with local Gardia Vincent O’Shea (Ciarán Hinds) who really can’t quite understand why his friend is so good with his target practice. Finbar works for handler Robert McQue (Colm Meaney) who accepts his ambitions to get his head down and settle for the quiet life. Evenings are spent in the local pub, run by single mother Sinéad Dougan (Sarah Greene) who has a young daughter named Moya (Michelle Gleeson). Finbar discovers that the two are being abused by a newcomer to town and must return to his former life to bring his own form of justice to those deserved of it.
Those expecting an all-out action flick will be disappointed as In The Land Of Saints and Sinners does take its time in moving through the gears, and the film is all the better for it. It is essentially a Western; The Banshees of Inershirin meets A Fistful of Dollars, if you will, with Neeson as the gunslinger and Ciarán Hinds as the sheriff. The real-life best mates re-team for the first time in over forty years (they both appeared in 1981’s Excalibur) and both are excellent here. Game of Thrones‘ Joffrey, Jack Gleeson, is fantastic as the new kid in town with killing in his blood, while Kerry Condon is also on top form as foul-mouthed Doireann McCann, out for justice as the villain of the piece.
Although the film relies on genre cliches a little and is often too on the nose and indeed lacking in huge character depth, there are lots of nice touches. For example, Finbar buries his victims in the local woods and plants a tree over their graves. There are a lot of small trees. The local saloon is the focus and indeed the location for a blistering finale where all those hungry for Neeson in action mode are given their reward to sticking with it.
Tom Stern, who has teamed with Eastwood on most of his more recent features, captures the coast of rural Ireland beautifully and Australian-Swiss siblings. Diego Baldenweg, Nora Baldenweg and Lionel Baldenweg deliver a pulsating score which is magnificent.
The 100 or so minutes drag in places which may put off the seasoned Neeson action stalwarts, and it really isn’t a film that’ll linger for long in the memory, but for a film released straight to the Netflix platform it is worthy of attention.
In The Land Of Saints And Sinners is released on Netflix in the UK and Ireland on 26th April.
In The Land Of Saints And Sinners
Summary
Very cliched in places heavily drawing from Western influences, Neeson’s latest is still a lot better than most of the genre pieces he’s churned out in recent years and very much worthy of your time.
