A Walk Among the Tombstones
Universal Pictures | Release Date: September 19, 2014 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
57
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 36 Critic Reviews
Positive:
18
Mixed:
15
Negative:
3
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
88
RogerEbert.comGlenn KennySep 19, 2014
A dynamite thriller. Read full review
81
Film.comKate ErblandSep 19, 2014
Frank’s film is much more of a noir outing than a straight action feature, and Neeson slips right into the tone and feel of the hard-boiled detective offering. Neeson may have been treated to a big career resurgence thanks to his knack for big action, but he’s great as Matt Scudder, and the darker charms of the film suit him wonderfully. Read full review
80
Village VoiceAlan ScherstuhlSep 16, 2014
A Walk Among the Tombstones is an uncommonly well-made thriller. Read full review
80
EmpireDan JolinSep 15, 2014
Like a good butcher’s cleaver, it’s weighty, solid and sharp — an effective matching of director and star in what is hopefully the first of a new film series. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliSep 20, 2014
The white hats are stained dark gray as if by ashes and soot. The villains are twisted, cruel, and vile. The heroes aren't much better. Read full review
75
Entertainment WeeklyJoe McGovernSep 19, 2014
As a throwback to a type of nasty, ugly crime film of yesteryear, A Walk Among the Tombstones cleans up. Read full review
75
Portland OregonianJeff BakerSep 18, 2014
Neeson used his newfound box-office clout to get A Walk Among the Tombstones made, and he's the best reason to see it. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperSep 18, 2014
Neeson is in nearly every scene in the movie, and he carries it well. Yes, he’s played this nails-tough, world-weary, scotch-loving, ex-law enforcement type again and again — but he’s as good as anyone in the world at playing those types, and in this case he has some rich material to work with. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleWalter AddiegoSep 18, 2014
For a good, straight-ahead noirish crime thriller, you could do a lot worse than A Walk Among the Tombstones. Read full review
70
TimeRichard CorlissSep 20, 2014
The cluttered climax, in a Mother Bates cellar, explains little of the killers’ psychology; for that you have to read the book. But it does let Neeson assert his primacy as the cinema’s most graven, grieving, grievous senior citizen — a figure who doesn’t so much star in his films as haunt them. This ghost of a movie star is never more at home than when walking among the tombstones. Read full review
70
New York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinSep 19, 2014
The talented writer-director Scott Frank comes awfully close in his adaptation of one of Block’s better novels, A Walk Among the Tombstones. I’d be way more enthusiastic if Frank hadn’t swapped out the book’s horrific, unforgettable ending for something so conventional, I can barely remember it a few days later. Read full review
70
The New York TimesManohla DargisSep 18, 2014
Nasty, brutal and unforgiving, A Walk Among the Tombstones is one of those rare contemporary cinematic offerings: intelligent pulp. Read full review
70
The DissolveMatt SingerSep 18, 2014
Neeson’s latest effort, A Walk Among The Tombstones, is slightly more subdued than his average shoot-’em-up, but no less gruffly satisfying. Read full review
70
TheWrapInkoo KangSep 17, 2014
As nauseating as the film's inventive sadisms can be, Frank succeeds far more in the details than in the larger picture that tries to relate this world to ours. Read full review
67
The PlaylistNikola GrozdanovicSep 18, 2014
You’ll walk away almost certain that you’ve seen a decent thriller, but your thoughts may stumble on the word “thrill.” Read full review
67
Charlotte ObserverLawrence ToppmanSep 18, 2014
Well, this is the best adaptation of Block – in fact, the only decent one. Read full review
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Liam LaceySep 18, 2014
Although overplotted and underexplained, the movie is rich in memorable lairs. Read full review
63
USA TodayClaudia PuigSep 18, 2014
Unlike his tough guy roles in "Taken" or "Non-Stop," Neeson is at least given some good dialogue. And he's a jot more world-weary than kick-ass here. Read full review
60
New York Daily NewsJoe NeumaierSep 18, 2014
With the combo of Neeson’s natural solemnity and his action chops, “Tombstones” treads compellingly amongst lesser thrillers. Read full review
60
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzSep 18, 2014
Scott Frank's atmospheric thriller is a step up from Neeson's usual shoot-'em-ups. Not a giant leap, but a step up nonetheless. Read full review
60
CineVueEd FranklSep 18, 2014
When push comes to shove, A Walk Among the Tombstones carries its B-movie thrills with aplomb. Read full review
60
VarietyAndrew BarkerSep 16, 2014
Too formally well crafted to be dismissed, but too straightforward and uncurious to be particularly exciting or insightful. Read full review
60
Total FilmMatt GlasbySep 15, 2014
Exciting, in places, though a stranger to subtlety, it ticks all the genre boxes, but there’s something about its knowing noirisms that feels superficial rather than soaked-in. Read full review
58
The A.V. ClubIgnatiy VishnevetskySep 17, 2014
Every year, so many artless, gormless, generically slick thrillers make their way into theaters that any time a genre director displays basic filmmaking smarts, the result ends up seeming like a retro novelty. Such is the case with writer-director Scott Frank’s murky potboiler A Walk Among The Tombstones. Read full review
50
Boston GlobeTom RussoSep 18, 2014
The problem with this adaptation of Lawrence Block’s detective yarn isn’t that it casts Neeson in a role we’re seeing him play again and again. It’s that no one else in the movie makes a character feel nearly as broken-in and fully inhabited as he does. Read full review
50
Los Angeles TimesKenneth TuranSep 18, 2014
A Walk Among the Tombstones is the creepiest film I've seen in quite some time, and that's not meant as a compliment. Read full review
50
Washington PostAnn HornadaySep 18, 2014
The look, style and smarts of A Walk Among the Tombstones seem like such a refreshingly toned-down departure from the outlandishness of Neeson’s “Taken” franchise that it’s all the more dismaying when the film shifts radically into a sadistic tableau of blood and gore. Read full review
50
New York PostKyle SmithSep 18, 2014
They don’t make ’em like A Walk Among the Tombstones any more. Mainly because everyone got bored with ’em and stopped watching ’em. Read full review
50
The Hollywood ReporterFrank ScheckSep 16, 2014
Distinctly and proudly old-fashioned in its retro, film noir vibe, A Walk Among the Tombstones is notable for its dark atmospherics and strong performance by Liam Neeson. Read full review
40
The TelegraphRupert HawksleySep 19, 2014
The film is not a total disaster, however. There is a captivating, unsettling climax and some impressive supporting performances. Read full review
40
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternSep 18, 2014
None of the film's tropes — fancy camera angles, dark streets, persistent rain, psycho killers in doomy settings, Scudder trudging around the city on their trail — can hide the essential hollowness of a not-very-interesting revenge tale that takes a not-at-all-welcome turn into grisly, ugly horror. Read full review
40
Austin ChronicleMarc SavlovSep 17, 2014
With A Walk Among the Tombstones, the names have been changed but the story’s all too familiar. Speaking of which, "Taken 3" is on its way. Read full review
40
Time Out LondonTom HuddlestonSep 17, 2014
A Walk Among the Tombstones is well paced and fairly watchable, but it does take itself desperately seriously. Read full review
38
St. Louis Post-DispatchJoe WilliamsSep 18, 2014
So stupid and hateful, it needs to have a stake driven through its heart before it can spawn a franchise. Read full review
38
McClatchy-Tribune News ServiceRoger MooreSep 17, 2014
Neeson is the rock anchoring all this, making the incredible at least passably credible as he lurches into the frame with his limping boxer’s gait. But you get the sense that he is no more “Taken” with this than we are. Read full review
38
Slant MagazineChris CabinSep 16, 2014
All of Scott Frank's thematic concerns are little more than window dressing for a run-of-the-mill detective story in line with '90s thrillers like The Bone Collector. Read full review
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