R | 1h 46m | Crime, Thriller | April 16, 2024 (streaming)
Based on the movie poster, “In the Land of Saints and Sinners” would appear to be yet another twilight-career Liam Neeson actioner. Mr. Neeson has been getting criticized for a while now for segueing from fabulous material like “Schindler’s List” into formulaic action movies.
It’s safe to say former heavyweight amateur boxer Neeson is not in the category of effete actor-artiste who sees their entire career as a meta artistic statement and expression of fine, well-considered, gourmet choices. But Mr. Neeson’s latest is more of a gourmet choice than his recent fare. “In the Land of Saints and Sinners” is reminiscent of Brad Pitt’s line in “The Devil’s Own”: “It’s not an American story—it’s an Irish one.”
“Sinners” is indeed an Irish story, and there aren’t many actors more suited to star in it than the Irish Liam Neeson.
Choices
“Sinners” is set in war-torn Northern Ireland in 1974, and features a measured performance by Mr. Neeson. It’s eloquent for its silences, where the politics of the Irish “Troubles” are a backdrop to a melancholy pondering of the consequences of good-versus-evil choices.
Experienced soldiers say that even in war, there can eventually get to be too much killing, even though that’s war’s essential job. Ancient spiritual wisdoms claim that in times of war, even if soldiers stack their nation’s enemies like cordwood, as the military saying goes—no karma will be generated from those deeds.
However, killing outside of the service—and especially for money—will stack karma like cordwood. All the killing has started to take its toll on Finbar, leaving him feeling faded and hollow inside, as did the death of his beloved wife while he was away at war.
One Last Job
Finbar hides his hollowness in the ironic friendship he has with Vincent O’Shea (Ciaran Hinds), of the local constabulary. They go shotgun-shooting and drinking at the pub together. All the townsfolk believe Finbar is a book dealer.
Finbar kidnaps one last wretched fellow (Mark O’Regan), drives him to a remote area, and makes the man dig his own grave. Instead of pleading for his life, the victim is fatalistic and philosophical in his last minutes on earth, understanding and accepting that his choices have led him to this barren place, dotted with little sprouting trees, marking other graves.
Returning to the Fold
The conversation metaphorically unravels Finbar’s tightly knit Irish sweater of cultivated emotional isolation and solitude. At long last, he accepts a dinner invitation from Rita Quinn (Niamh Cusack), the neighbor from across the way with whom he’s been flirting for years.
He also, to the bemusement of bossman Robert McQue (Colm Meaney), resigns from his job. “Will you miss me?” “Like a hole in the head.” McQue is not happy though, because he’s now left with only the young, slightly psychotic, hot-headed Kevin Lynch (Jack Gleeson), who delights way too much in whacking targets.
Showdown
Like the flipside of the coin to Mr. Neeson’s repentant Finbar, is the entirely unrepentant, politically zealous, grim shot-caller of the Belfast bombers, Doireann McCann (Kerry Condon). Naturally, these two killers are soon on a perilous collision course with each other that can only end in more bloodshed and death.
All the Donegal inhabitants have lost family members to “The Troubles”; their grief and anger are expressed in varying ways, with firearms ever-present. Well-delineated, colorful characters abound, and we eventually feel like we know the whole village. In addition to the garrulous, unhinged Kevin, warm-hearted cop-buddy Vincent, sweet neighbor Rita, there’s the local bartender Sinead Dougan (Sarah Greene), Moya’s mother.
Overall
In this one-last-job gangster story, Mr. Neeson barely breaks a sweat while sweeping his peaceful community clean of IRA goons, and effortlessly holds the audience’s sympathies. He finds the cognitive disconnect that allows Finbar to nurture a stray cat, threaten Kevin with a beating if he continues to make fun of his victims, and trade bantering insults with Vincent. Finbar is both good and bad, and Mr. Neeson shows us, believably, the complexity of a person in whom such polarities exist simultaneously.
Ms. Condon is outstanding as the fiery Doireann. She’s the nightmarish product of ingrained generational violence, the legacy of which merely perpetuates violence instead of actually freeing Ireland. She talks loudly about what she’s fighting for, but remains tragically blind to what she’s ultimately accomplishing (slain children). It’s heartbreaking to see a woman this deadly and devoid of nurturing.
“In the Land of Saints and Sinners” has considerable carnage but no gore. Director Robert Lorenz sets a deliberate pace, but manages to hold our attention, while taking full advantage of picturesque coastal Ireland. He plays the peaceful surroundings against the increasingly violent action, and so “Sinners” is for filmgoers who fancy a medium-gritty-but-scenic crime thriller, for diehard Neeson fans, and for deeply Irish stories, shot in Hibernia, with an exclusively Hibernian cast.
