Movie Review: Marlowe

 

Michael's Movie Grade: B+

An excellent modern day film noir. 

Like all good film noirs, a major reason this movie works is because of a wonderful sense of atmosphere. This film takes place in Hollywood of the late 1930's and it fully utilizes this setting to its advantage. While not everything may be perfectly true to this setting, this does not matter. What matters is that this movie creates its own dark and dangerous version of 1930's Hollywood that is completely engaging. Much of this is captured in the film's wonderful use of cinematography and lighting, which make this feel like a noir film of the 1940's in all the best ways. If you are a noir fan (like I am), there is little doubt that this film's visual style will delight you. David Holmes's atmospheric musical score also adds a lot to this movie's ambiance. The film also benefits from simply wonderful dialogue. This is the type of cynical hard-bitten dialogue that has helped give film noir its many fans. This is the type of dialogue that makes us wish we could talk like this in real life and makes these characters seem larger than life. There is also plenty of cynical and witty humor in this dialogue that is just as tough and hard-boiled as the serious lines. This humor is not only quite funny but it adds to the noir like atmosphere and tough feeling of this movie. The storyline is quite engaging and keeps you on the edge of your seat. True at times it can be needlessly complex but that is just part of the game in a Philip Marlowe movie. What matters is that this story never made me feel bored for even a second while watching it and the near two hours passed by quite quickly. It also has a wonderful feel of dread and suspense that is simply delightful. 

Now for the big question. How is Liam Neeson as Phillip Marlowe? The answer is really darn good. Humprey Bogart (who played the character in The Big Sleep (1946)) and Robert Mitchum (who played the character in Farewell My Lovely (1975)) will always be my favorite movie versions of Raymond Chandler's (who wrote the original books featuring the character) famous private detective and I also have a fondness for Dick Powell's version of the character in Murder My Sweet (1944). However Liam Neeson does a great job with the character and never once feels like he is copying any of the great actors who played the part in the past. Because of this it is easy to enjoy his take on the character without comparing it to the previous takes. Here he does a great job of capturing the cynical and world-weary nature of this interpretation of the character. He is also accompanied by a wonderful supporting cast including Jessica Lange, Diane Kruger and Danny Huston. Danny Houston channels his father, legendary director/actor John Houston, with a role very reminiscent of the character John Houston played in the brilliant noir, Chinatown (1974).

This film does have its faults though. Many of the supporting characters can at times feel like more like plot devices than actual characters, as there is little depth to them and little more to them than what they contribute to the plot. There are also quite a few moments in this movie that are too similar to scenes from many other noirs and those noirs did those scenes even better. Because of this, the movie may not be as memorable as it should be. 

All in all this is an excellent noir and a pure delight to those who (like me) love the genre. 

Movie Trailer: Marlowe

Movie Review: Blacklight

 

Michael's Movie Grade: C+

A typically fun Liam Neeson thriller. 

When you see Liam Neeson's name above a movie title, you exactly what to except and this movie gives you exactly that. His films for thew last few years have been extremely similar and this one really follows suit. Liam's character works for bad people, discovers that they are corrupt and using him and he gets revenge. There is nothing new or shocking here, but no one bought a ticket for this movie excepting groundbreaking cinema. I for one knew what I was getting and enjoyed watching it. 

Much of what makes these movies work is the main character. The character is very likable and easy to sympathize with. This is both because of the position the script places him in and due to Liam Neeson's natural charm. It is easy to see why Neeson is so often typecast in this type of role and that is because he is darn good at playing it. He is excellent at the action and suspense scenes, but he also incorporates enough humanity to make us truly care about this character. This along with how truly evil the villain (Aidan Quinn) is, makes it hard to not root for this guy and when that happens, we find ourselves enjoying the clichés instead of groaning at them. The action scenes are also quite excellent. Director Mark Williams (who also directed Neeson in Honest Thief (2020)) paces the action scenes very well without ever letting them either drag or feel rushed. Instead, they are exciting and fun the whole time. The story while cliché is fun and proves to be enough to hang the action and character moments on. 

If I had one thing I hated about this movie, it would certainly be the scenes with our main character's granddaughter (Gabriella Sengos). These scenes felt too cutesy and if there is anything I don't want in a Liam Neeson thriller it is cutesy. These scenes were so obviously meant to make us go "aww" and want to see our hero be able to spend more time with his adorable granddaughter. Yet it is so obvious in its intentions and clumsy in its execution that it can come off as feeling emotional manipulative. 

This is not high cinematic art by any means, and no one is going to leave in awe of what they just saw. Yet this film is not trying to be anything spectacular, and no one is excepting that from it. Instead, this provides audiences with an enjoyable trip to the movies and sometimes that is enough. 

Movie Review: The Marksman

 

Note: I saw this film in a theater and it is so good to be back. 

Michael's Movie Grade: B-

A typically enjoyable, if overly familiar Liam Neeson vehicle. 

Despite this movie dealing with illegal immigration and border patrol, any political or social commentary takes a backseat to a typical Liam Neeson storyline. This movie takes every step you can except from a Liam Neilson action movie without missing a beat. This means that if you are familiar with these movies you know most of the plot before it happens. This also means that if you like these movies you will enjoy this one and if you don't like these movies you won't. Luckily for me I always find myself enjoying these films. Liam Neeson has of course completely mastered playing the kind of character he does here and few can do it as well as he does. As always his performance lends a sense of humanity and emotion to this movie, while still completely deliver the tough action scenes we all want. The action scenes themselves are typically great and it is hard to think that any fans of these movies could absolutely love the ones here. Director Robert Lorenz knows just how to make these scenes as exciting as possible. They are over the top enough to be fun yet never too over the top to distract from the story or become comical. While we may not thinking of movies like this being feats of filmmaking, there is no doubt that it requires a lot of skill and know-how to walk this tightrope and not fall off. The relationship between Neeson's character and the young boy he helps (Jacob Perez) is surprisingly sweet and well handled. While it like the rest of the movie is told through cliché plot points, there is a real heart behind this part of the story and it makes the audience gain an emotional connection that lasts through even the most cliché of moments. 

Simply put if you like this movies, you will like this one and if you don't then this isn't going to change your mind.  

Movie Review: Honest Thief

 

Michael's Movie Grade: B-

Despite being a very conventional Liam Neeson vehicle, this movie proves that as cliché as it is, there is still a lot of fun to be found in these films. 

Stop me if you heard this one before, someone messes with Liam Neeson and through various tense action scenes he gets his revenge. I know this sounds like 80% of the movies he is in, but this film shows there is still life in this formula. First and most importantly for a movie like this, the action scenes are very well done. The excellent pacing, tense acting (especially from Neeson) and Mark Isham's music score all make these action scenes work to their best advantage. While the main character does not have much depth, he is likable enough for us to root for him. This is important because this is what makes the film have a sense of suspense, because we really want this guy to prove his innocence. Also helping is that the main villain is completely evil, but is so in a way that doesn't feel like a caricature. Because of this we take joy in watching revenge being taken out on him. One thing that is surprisingly really good about this movie is the romance. Neeson and Kate Walsh have fantastic chemistry together and it is a joy to watch them share the screen. For such an over the top movie, the romance is very sweet and believable. This keeps the film grounded and relatable even when it is over the top. 

This film provides us with the pure escapism we all need right now.

Note: I saw this film in a theatre and it feels so good to be back. While I like watching movies at home, there is a magic to seeing a film in a theatre that can never be captured anywhere else. While this is not the first movie I saw in a theatre since Covid it was the first I saw in Dolby. After this long absence from it, the Dolby experience blew me away. 

-Michael J. Ruhland 

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