In the Land of Saints and Sinners Review

Last Updated on April 3, 2024

PLOT: In 1974, an aging hitman (Liam Neeson) tries to leave his violent past behind and reinvent himself in a small, isolated town in Ireland. However, his good nature leads to him making a fateful decision that puts him in the crosshairs of an insane IRA assassin (Kerry Condon) and her cronies. 

REVIEW: I know what you’re thinking – another Liam Neeson action flick. Ho-hum. Normally, I’d be right there with you. While no one can deny he’s become the 21st century’s version of Charles Bronson, with him churning out a steady diet of B-level action flicks, not all of them are disposable in the way something like Blacklight, Honest Thief, Retribution and too many others are. Once in a while, he works with a really interesting director,  such as on the beautifully photographed Marlowe by Neil Jordan. One of his better recent action flicks was definitely The Marksman, and he re-teams with that movie’s director, Robert Lorenz, for In the Land of Saints and Sinners, which is way above average as far as his latter-era programmers go.

Beautifully shot on location in Ireland (County Donegal) with excellent cinematography by Tom Stern (both he and Lorenz are Clint Eastwood vets), the film benefits from solid pacing, a good Neeson performance, and a really strong supporting cast. While the premise is somewhat old hat, with Neeson again playing a hitman with a heart of gold, the movie has a few interesting twists. Perhaps the most intriguing is that the movie has a rare female villain, with Kerry Condon (of The Banshees of Inisherin) playing a psychopathic IRA hit-woman wanting to do away with Neeson’s Finbar after he kills her pedophile brother. 

Condon relishes her role here, playing it to the hilt but never becoming a cartoon somehow. Considering how low-key Neeson is, she makes for an interesting contrast. The rest of the cast is just as unique, with Game of Thrones star Jack Gleeson having an especially interesting role. Here, he plays the requisite young thug, but he gives the role a lot more pathos than we’ve seen before, ultimately portraying him in a bittersweet way that’s pretty unique to the genre. Neeson’s old pal Ciaran Hinds also turns up as a local police officer who quickly becomes Finbar’s best friend in town. Once he realizes Finbar’s likely a killer, his performance becomes quite affecting, with him not wanting to lose the friend he’s made and vice versa. 

Little moments like these make In the Land of Saints and Sinners more effective as a drama than as a thriller, and indeed, it seems a little light on action for a Neeson movie. However, the performances are so good you won’t mind, and the action-packed climax is more exciting than usual as you really do become invested in Neeson’s Finbar, even if he’s not all that different from the usual anti-heroes the actor plays.

It’s too bad that In the Land of Saints and Sinners is being lumped in with some of Neeson’s other run-of-the-mill action movies, as this is legitimately a good one. Sadly, we’ve gotten to the point where his films are starting to be seen as somewhat disposable, meaning it’s unlikely that many people will turn out to see this in theatres. Hopefully, once it hits streaming, it’ll find an audience; as of all his latter-era directors, Lorenz really seems to know exactly what makes for a good Neeson vehicle. Even if you haven’t liked his last bunch of movies, give this one a shot. It’s probably his best since (the very underrated) A Walk Among the Tombstones. 

In the Land of Saints and Sinners

GREAT

8

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