The latest Liam Neeson flick In The Land Of Saints And Sinners has landed on Netflix and after the reaction to its Venice Film Festival premiere, we weren’t expecting much from it.
The film sees Neeson play an assassin for hire in 1970s Ireland who becomes embroiled in an IRA plot after a group hide out in the Donegal town where he lives.
The cast is jam-packed with familiar Irish faces including Oscar nominees Ciarán Hinds and Kerry Condon, along with The Snapper and Star Trek actor Colm Meaney and Game of Thrones villain, Jack Gleeson.
Even with so many well-known names attached, the film didn’t go down well with critics, with many slamming it for its overuse of ‘Irish stereotypes’.
Playing to critics for the first time at the 80th annual Venice International Film Festival, the film scored a less-than-stellar 60% on Rotten Tomatoes. However, it seems audiences are reacting more positively to the film.
The movie landed on Netflix on April 26 and held he top spot in the daily film charts. But for a movie that was hammered by the critics, viewers seem to be liking what they see.
On Twitter, now known as X, one user wrote: ‘I’ve been catching up with a few newer movies this week & one of the biggest surprises was discovering just how staggeringly great Kerry Condon is as a ferocious villain in the otherwise average In The Land Of Saints And Sinners. She makes it well worth watching.’
Another said: ‘Just watched In The Land of Saints & Sinners on Netflix, it was ok, watchable, so grateful there were no leprechauns or Hollywood oirish accents (still traumatised by An Oirish Wish 😭). But I’ll tell ye what lads, Kerry Condon is a seriously underrated actress 💚’
A third shared: ‘In the land of Saints & Sinners, brilliant movie on Netflix. Cast is top class & in my personal opinion the best film Liam Neeson has done since Taken & Batman.’
As for the filming location, one person said: ‘Just finished watching the new Liam Neeson film on Netflix. In The Land of Saints & Sinners. Very good and stunning scenery in Donegal.’
Another wrote: ‘Just finished Liam Neeson’s In The Land of Saints & Sinners, amazing. Proud to be from Donegal 🇮🇪☘️’
As for the critics who shared their thought after the film’s premiere, The Hollywood Reporter wrote: ‘The paddywhackery is as thick as the Oirish brogues and flavorful caricatures in Robert Lorenz’s In the Land of Saints & Sinners…
‘Not since the merry blarney of Wild Mountain Thyme has a movie leaned so hard into Emerald Isle stereotypes, which makes it remarkable that Liam Neeson as a pipe-smoking, Dostoevsky-reading assassin manages to play it straight.’
Screen Daily added: ‘For some, that film was a little too bleak and the humor a bit too black: The Land Of Saints And Sinners will be the more palatable Irish thriller for those in that market.
‘And Neeson looks as strong as ever in the “big lad” role: he’s 71, and signs are that he will just keep on sinning – as long as there is a child in distress.’
