Shady dudes doing shady things in shady places.

If any part of that sounds unappealing, “Run All Night” is certainly not for you. In an era where a great deal of popular media involves darkness, moral ambiguity and violence, it’s understandable to be jaded toward that approach.

But for as typical and unspectacular “Run All Night” is, there’s still a lot to like here. Liam Neeson and Ed Harris are two of the finer male leads of their generation and, true to its title, the film screams by at a rapid pace.

There’s just enough meat in the details to keep the narrative interesting until the end, but the simplicity of the story is a high point for “Run All Night.” Neeson killed Harris’ son to protect his own son, and now Harris wants revenge.

What more do you need? Any excuse to have Neeson and Harris hunting each other down over the course of a single night in the slimier parts of New York City is a good one.

“Run All Night” has such a solid premise that all it really needs to be is competent, and that’s precisely what it is.

The choice to set it during a single night works to its credit as well, as it never wastes the audience’s time. The tension remains high throughout the entire film, but there are enough quiet moments to break up the action.

Efficient pacing goes a long way, especially in this case. When more and more action films pad things out and last three hours, it’s nice that “Run All Night” makes its point with brevity.

None of the action scenes are especially unique or terrific, but they’re just fine for what they are. They’re amplified by the atmosphere of their settings, such as the foggy woods surrounding a lake house in the film’s conclusion.

Like too many Hollywood films, “Run All Night” could stand to do better when it comes to representation. There isn’t a single fleshed out female character, and the vast majority of the primary cast is white, which is all too common in movies that take place in one of the world’s most diverse cities.

Most of the characters, including our supposed hero in Neeson, are morally iffy at best and objectively bad people at worst. That isn’t an inherently bad thing, but if you don’t want to feel slightly dirty while you walk out of the theater, you probably shouldn’t see this.

“Run All Night” is just OK, and at the end of the day, it doesn’t necessarily need to be anything more. It checks off all the requisite boxes, cuts out most of the fat and gets you home in time for dinner.

No part of it will blow your mind, but it’s enjoyable enough and will make a nice Saturday afternoon Netflix movie in the future.