In The Land Of Saints And Sinners review: Even Liam Neeson must be getting tired of this

It’s clear early on in In The Land Of Saints And Sinners that director Robert Lorenz was inspired by his frequent collaborator Clint Eastwood. Lorenz was Eastwood’s producer and second-unit director for many years, and Eastwood starred in his directorial debut, Trouble With The Curve (2012). You could call this, his third directorial feature, an Unforgiven (1992) wannabe. Its plot and lead character arc mirror Eastwood’s Oscar-winning classic Western. Both are about lonely killers trying to carve a peaceful late life only for their violent past to come back and haunt them.

Lorenz sets his tale of a lonely older man in Northern Ireland in 1974. Finbar Murphy (Liam Neeson) is gruff with a dry sense of humor, tough but kind. The kind of character you’d expect to find in a movie like this. In the midst of another assassination assignment, the words of the mark in his last minutes lead to a crisis of conscience. Before long, Finabar just wants to plant a garden and live quietly. Of course, he’s dragged back in for one last job and has to deal with a ruthless adversary in Kerry Condon’s Doirean, an IRA soldier fleeing an attack gone wrong.

The script, by Mark Michael McNally and Terry Loane, sticks to Western movie staples. The wise, seen-it-all men (Neeson, but also his friend and his employer, played by Ciarán Hinds and Colm Meaney respectively), the young hothead who will get into trouble but also learn something (Jack Gleason), and the final prolonged shootout in a confined space (in this case a bar). There are seemingly profound musings from many characters who reminisce about their past and the many regrets they have. The intended effect the filmmakers are aiming for is for the film to feel like a cozy familiar old blanket. Audiences seeking a modern twist on the Western should find this captivating.

Despite the accents and the setting, however, the film doesn’t use the Irish troubles to give its narrative an expansive historical and political context. Doirean mentions in passing that she’s “fighting for a free Ireland,” but beyond this brief lip service and some nods to the IRA’s 1970s tactics, In The Land Of Saints And Sinners is not specific enough. As a Western, it has many failings as well. Its moral dilemma is not complicated, the choices Finbar makes come easy and the audience is never torn about whether to root for him or not. See, he might be a killer but he really just wants to save children and ultimately plant a garden. The aforementioned copious conversations about complex issues only manage to slow down the action instead of adding gravitas and pathos. The screenplay gets bogged down in the machinations of the plot, so all this talk becomes extraneous instead of actually driving the narrative.

Filmmakers need not always reinvent the wheel or come up with a unique story. Nodding to classics of the past is welcome, even appreciated. What Lorenz and his collaborators fail to do is give the audience any reason to watch this film other than nostalgia. It all feels like an exercise in cheap imitation instead of revered homage. In The Land Of Saints And Sinners’ characters are only intriguing because they follow frameworks that have proved successful elsewhere. There’s no specificity to their motivations, nor their actions.

Neeson, however, is a perfect fit for this part. Finabar Murphy could be the older version of any of the other lone avenger characters that he has played in the last two decades. His world-weariness feels palpable and carries the film through its many fallow plot points. But it’s also the exact performance you’d expect to see, more a failure of a script that only gives him broad notes to play. Condon is appropriately ferocious, relishing the opportunity to swear with almost every line of dialogue. Yet the character is skin-deep with no complex morality.

Lorenz clearly has an affinity for the conventions of the Western, and so is able to give In The Land Of Saints And Sinners a steady rhythm. Everything hums along well enough making for a not unpleasant watch. However, in addition to the familiar plot and hooky dialogue, there’s neither an interesting shot nor a beautiful frame to look at. This is the definition of a B movie; competent, easy to follow, and almost instantly forgettable.