Absolution

This movie, in the career of Liam Neeson, is nearly a cliché, a pleonasm. For his age, he has done far far worse since a decade now. He is good in this story which can remind some movies from the seventies. This scheme of an aging hitman or gangster or cop, a character who lives his last moments on this earth, this scheme is not new, it has been told hundreds of times before, but this diminishes nothing to the efficiency of this movie. Liam Neeson is poignant here, no problem. Me, I like this movie, this kind of story. Liam Neeson have made and will make more films like this one in the future. He has no more choice.... This plot and main character reminds me Craig Fairbrass in THE VILLAIN (2020).

Most people going to see this film will be disappointed. It is a somber story how cognitive decline takes hold. And with condition like that there's no chance for a happy ending.

Acting was in my opinion good and made it realistic how it's when you can't trust your memory.

So if avarage viewer is expecting visual hollywood fluff with clear morals they will not find it from here. There's no heroes, morals or righteous characters; everything is on a gray scale rather then having good and bad.

And due to confusion setting in to the main character it's hard to see him as a good guy either. He's chosen his path and working for 'bad guys' all his life. Not much to redeem there.

Liam Neeson's latest crime thriller, directed by Norwegian filmmaker Hans Petter Moland (Kjærlighetens, kjøtere, Gymnaslærer Pedersen, En ganske snill mann), is imbued with a deep melancholy and sense of humanity. There have been many films about thug life in Boston, but the story of Thug (Neeson) holds its own among the better ones. The main reason is that he is a fully fleshed-out character who is brought to life by Neeson's seasoned performance. And although his world is populated with overly familiar small-time mobsters and let-down women, Moland takes his time to tell their stories with conviction and care.

Set in Boston, the film follows a former boxer turned low level enforcer (Liam Neeson) working for local crime boss Charlie Connor (Ron Perlman). After he starts forgetting things, the enforcer goes to a doctor who informs him that a lifetime of taking continuous blows to the head has left him with CTE. With no treatment or medicine available and an unclear estimation of how much time he has left, the enforcer starts preparing to get his affairs in order including re-establishing contact with his estranged daughter Rosie (Frankie Shaw).

Absolution is the latest vehicle for Liam Neeson who in over the past 20 years has become synonymous with these mid budgeted thrillers and crime films that while not the blockbusters they were 20 years ago are still profitable thanks to "downstream revenues" (streaming rights, international sales, etc.). Absolution sees Neeson reteaming with director Hans Petter Moland after the two collaborated on Cold Pursuit (remade from Moland's own In Order of Disappearance) and written by writer Joe Gayton. Despite being marketed as another Neeson fronted action film, absolution is really more of a noir tinged drama with some genre elements that while more ambitious than some films he's done isn't all that successful.

As per usual Neeson is playing a very standard "seasoned tough guy" as his career has taken a route previously taken by actors such as Charles Bronson, but there is at least an attempt to give him something as he plays a character slowly losing his cognitive faculties and now taking stock of his less than admirable life. The scenes where he's struggling to remember things like his dead son or what he actually intended to do are the highlights of the film and it honestly makes me wish the movie had just ditched the well worn thriller/noir trappings and been more of a character drama as it really wants to be. During the first two thirds Absolution juggles many different plot elements like his relationship with a woman played by Yolonda Ross (who disappears after the second act), the jobs he's running for Charlie Connor, or a recurring dream sequence involving his father and a boat that just feels really out of place. Once we're in the third act it basically just gives up and becomes a standard Neeson rampage but by that point those who came expecting it may feel it's too little too late while those invested in the character drama will be disappointed that it doesn't really payoff. If you want to see a movie like this that's a character study of a degenerative brain disease with crime thriller elements, you're really better off just watching Knox Goes Away from earlier this year as it did a better job of combing the two elements (with some minor missteps) and actually felt like a more fully formed vision.

Absolution tries to add a little something extra to the well worn conveyor of Liam Neeson led genre films but it's such a rough mixture of haphazard character drama and noir cliches without doing either well enough to warrant even a minimal recommendation. If you want this kind of movie but better, just watch Knox Goes Away.

I was expecting another Liam Neeson driven action flick but this is a more thoughtful movie. It is slow paced for sure but I feel unfolds nicely. You really get the sense the guy at the end regrets his choices in life. You also get the sense he was destined for that life. I think the development of Liams character over the course of the movie builds your feelings for him. This is a flawed/violent person who at the end grows more desperate to reconcile with the family he walked away from. The movie touches a lot on inter-generational abuse and neglect and the chaos and struggle that leads to generation after generation. Also, I felt the movie was exceptionally written. If you're willing to give it the time and enjoy Neesons more subtle performances you should enjoy this.