In the Land of Saints & Sinners | Review

A filmmaker's take

Every so often while searching the vast networks of online streaming platforms for a semi-decent piece of content, we dare to venture down into the dark abyss of Netflix. I know I know, but desperate times… I guess we could have combed through the library of old DVD’s and put on one of the many classics that adorned our shelves, but sometimes you just want to try something new, ya know?

So in our half-hearted search through the rather cringeworthy catalogue of films that is the Netflix library, we happened upon a recent release that I hadn’t heard of, starring Liam Neeson. So here’s my half-baked attempt at a movie review for you folks who have potentially given up on seeing any sort of a regular schedule of posts coming from this half-baked channel.

Let’s start with the writing. The dialogue felt realistic. Being an Irish film, it was jam packed with Irish slang and phraseologies which I just love. Now that I think of it, the film as a whole felt a great deal like The Banshees of Inisherin (which is an absolutely fantastic film that all y’all need to watch). The story was also good. It kept the stakes realistic and didn’t try to take on the whole world. The story beats made sense to me. Everything seemed to fit, and some unpredictability weaved in there was a nice surprise (ba dum, chhhh). Anyway…

Visually it was great. I don’t have a ton to say on this, because I wasn't watching it with the intention of writing a review, but thinking back on it, the cinematography was solid and the film was overall aesthetically pleasing.

I thought the acting was fantastic. Liam Neeson fit very well in this role. I mean, its definitely a similar role type to that of Taken, so there’s that, but he added some great nuance to his character, establishing his inner struggle in the opening scenes, and digging deeper into it around the midpoint where his world was turned upside down.

Overall I really liked it. the supporting characters were so good. They were odd, flawed, and compelling. It’s not on John Wick’s level as far as action movies go, and not as thought provoking as The Banshees of Inisherin, but it was a pretty solid flick.

I’m going to give it 3.5/5 beans.

Thanks for reading this, and I hope to write another one soon… I’ve been getting my bearings, having started a new job recently! (Thanks for your prayers).

Anyways, until next time.

Pax.