Liam Neeson gets his Irish up 'In The Land of Saints and Sinners'

Why can't he make more movies like this?

Liam Neeson has a particular set of skills that allows him to make one dad-friendly action movie after another after another that, to the untrained eye, all look like the same movie. Even a fan of the Irish actor can be forgiven for not being able to distinguish between “Retribution,” “Memory” and “Blacklight.” Which Liam Neeson movie is the one where he plays a world-weary hero forced to dispatch the bad guys one more time? Oh, all of them? Good to know.

So it’s easy to let a good one slip by, and “In the Land of Saints and Sinners” is a good one. The thriller surrounds Neeson with a terrific supporting cast, employs some beautiful widescreen shots of the stormy landscape of Neeson’s native Ireland, and has a screenplay with surprising depth and humor from Mark Micheal McNally and Terry Loane. But best of all, Neeson seems at home and at ease on screen here in a way he hasn’t in a while.

The year is 1974, and while the Troubles are raging across the country, the tiny village of Gleann Colm Cille seems removed from the civil war. Neeson plays Finbar Murphy, a kindly man who is seemingly happy hanging out at the cheerful local pub every night and discussing Dostoevsky with his best friend, the local Garda policeman Vinnie (Ciaran Hinds). 

But Murphy has another life, as an apolitical hitman accepting assignments from his handler (a plummy Colm Meaney). Murphy’s modus operandi is to march his victim to a remote clearing, have them dig their own grave, set a kitchen timer to 60 seconds for them to say their final words, then kill them and bury them, with a young sapling planted on top of them.

There are a lot of trees in that clearing now. Murphy, quietly wracked with guilt and shame, wants to turn over a new leaf. But, of course, he makes the mistake of allowing himself one more victim, a violent newcomer named Curtis (Desmond Eastwood), who has been physically abusing a local woman and her young daughter. One last tree.

Except Curtis was the younger brother of a vicious IRA terrorist, Doireann (Kerry Condon), on the run with her confederates after a botched bombing killed several innocents. When she comes to town and finds her brother is missing, presumed dead, she vows to find the culprit. 

Take away the pints of Guinness and the judicious use of the f- and c-words in the dialogue, and “In the Land of Saints and Sinners” is an American Western. But so was Lorenz’s previous collaboration with Neeson, 2021’s “The Marksman,” and both films understand that the best Westerns are as much about character and setting as they are about gunplay. 

So “Sinners” is much more of a character drama in the first hour, taking its time to develop the relationships between Murphy and his neighbors, to show us what Doireann can take away from him. The relationship between Murphy and a trigger-happy protege (Jack Gleeson, Joffrey on “Game of Thrones”) is nervy and electric, and the friendship between Murphy and Vinnie, criminal and cop, is genuinely affecting. When Vinnie suspects his friend’s true nature, and Neeson’s face crumples with sadness and embarrassment, it’s quite heartrending.

And then Condon, Oscar nominated for “The Banshees of Inisherin,” roars in like a foul-mouthed force of nature. She’s phenomenal in a villain role, her mouth a lipsticked slash of cruelty, but also finds funny and poignant notes for her hard-bitten character. 

“Sinners” ends with a terrifically-staged gunfight in that pub that efficiently keeps track of multiple combatants, as well as shows the cost to innocents caught in the crossfire. It’s the dramatic groundwork that was laid in the first hour that makes this action scene pack such a punch, and makes “In the Land of Saints and Sinners” one of Neeson’s best movies in years.

“In the Land of Saints and Sinners” opens Friday in theaters. In Madison, it plays at Marcus Point, Marcus Palace, AMC Fitchburg 18 and Flix Brewhouse Madison.