In the Land of Saints and Sinners

Jack Gleeson and Liam Neeson

Robert Lorenz's In the Land of Saints and Sinners is an above average Liam Neeson thriller set in Ireland during the height of the Troubles in 1974. Neeson plays a mob hit man mulling retirement. However, when he discovers a local lass is being abused, Neeson takes justice into his own hands. Unfortunately for Neeson's character, his victim is part of a IRA terrorist cell hiding out in Donegal which is just outside of the Northern Ireland border. The cell is headed by the victim's sister played in full virago mode by the ridiculously accomplished Kerry Condon. In essence, the film is a revenge tragedy, for once though it is not Neeson seeking an eye for eye. 

This is the third feature directed by Mr. Lorenz, he produced numerous Clint Eastwood pictures, and he has yet to craft a distinctive film as a director. He does give his talented cast extra beats and asides that let them carve out their characters, but the film lacks the overwhelming momentum a revenge tragedy should have. The cinematography by Tom Stern, also a compadre of Eastwood, presents a handsomely burnished view of Ireland that never feels affected. The Morricone inflected score by the Baldenweg siblings is one of the year's best. The screenplay, by Mark Michael McNally and Terry Loane, aims to be an elevated thriller, but it overreaches. Neeson's thug is really a sensitive sort. He reads Swift and Dostoyevsky and yearns to grow a garden. The parallels the film seeks to draw between the central relationship of Crime and Punishment and that of Neeson and his best bud, a local police chief who is less clueless than he lets on, don't resound in any particularly enlightening way. There is no sense of an earned redemption in this tale.

Nevertheless, because the policeman is played by magnificent Ciarán Hinds, we treasure every instance of repartee between the two. Ditto the contrast between the dependably stolid Neeson and Condon as a spitting viper. All the cast is first rate including Colm Meany as a local mobster and Niamh Cusack as a lady down the way Neeson is sweet on. Mark O' Regan has a moving death scene and assays a worthy version of "Carrick Fergus". Best of all is Jack Gleeson as a cocky lad groomed as Neeson's heir apparent by the mob. Gleeson, best known as the unforgettably evil Joffrey on Game of Thrones, adds a shot of youthful mischief to the largely sclerotic cast. Whether saving Neeson's bacon, singing a cheesy Gilbert O'Sullivan tune as he buries a victim or airing dreams of youthful escape, Gleeson gives In the Land of Saints and Sinners the spritz it needs.