In the Land of Saints and Sinners

Once again one of the better Liam Neeson films. The film is entertaining and has a great cast. The simple story, about IRA terrorists who cross paths with Liam Neeson, stands out above all because of the camera. The landscape shots are beautiful. The music is atmospherically good. The film is told in a straight forward manner. No action fireworks, but a quiet and atmospheric thriller. A worthwhile film that is surprisingly different to otherwise tried and tested Liam Neeson films. It's amazing what this little film brings out of its actors in terms of performance. Little jewels in a simple setting.

Latest movie of Liam Neeson is a very very interesting movie. I feel it deserves more than it's IMDB ranking of 6.1 and Rotten tomatoes score of 60%. For me it's a straight 8.0 at least. In the backdrop of a Irish country seaside village, in 1974, a Retiring assassin tries to get settled in the calm routine life. He wants to leave the life of sin. But a group of IRA hitmen is taking refuge there at the time and slowly causes ripples in the society. There are small industries, shops and church based communities- which trudge along the sea side village. People develop bonds and relations. Liam Neeson's character comes into conflict with the reclusive IRA group and that threatens to open wide his plans to leave his old sins and live a saintly life. Viewers may remember Jack gleeson from The game of thrones, the abominable character as Joffrey Baratheon, acting as a helpful assassin here. Many character actors are familiar from other movies. But each and everyone is typical of Irish characters which we imagine to be. The mid 70s ambience has been recreated nicely. A sense of underlying optimism flows through the Movie in spite of the gloom of death and sins against children and penury for people who are trying to stay afloat. The movie is not that gritty and dull but not flamboyant also. I would recommend a definite see !

In the Land of Saints and Sinners is about an assassin that have quitted his job and is about to start a new life, but then, the new problems are coming, and the small place in England in the middle of nowhere, is in danger. The story isn't new, but the thing they do in here is very good. First of all, the main character, Finbar Murphy, is a well presented person, with good character development, and they show very clearly the connection between his good friends and the people that lives in the small place. I could see that he really cared about them, and the plot feels much more important then. The story was a little strange to understand at the beginning, which direction are they going to go, but later on everything went good, the puzzles were placed on the right places, and the action and suspense were turned on. The suspense was holding and I really enjoyed the storyline and how everything was evolving and leading nearer and nearer the grand final, with the final moment of action. The action sequences were well made, with some nice camera filming and good music in the background. The film did have generally good music, some suspenseful, some old violin music and some classic British style. Besides that, I really liked the pictures in here. Great pictures of beautiful nature, and the light set-up and camera angles were outstanding. The small town was presented very well too. After all, the movie ended good, it was generally good, and I have to admit that this was a very nice thriller! The start could have a better beginning, something more that could give me a clear focus of the situation, but after everything, the bricks went on the right place. I do recommend it.

Liam Neeson seems well suited to the role as a widowed hitman going up against the IRA, probably because its on his home turf and seems more relaxed around others from the same county? He plays well off Ciaran Hinds as the local Garda and their friendship is funny and touching. Kerry Condon is excellent as the villian; believable and refreshing to see a female as the baddie. I liked the scenery (obviously!) and the soundtrack is solid. We did struggle a lot with the dialogue , the accents here are very thick so we found it difficult to follow events. The sweet, good natured Irish villagers and their simple life seemed trite and stereotypical but it's an watchable, well acted would be 'Western'