Liam Neeson has recently talked about his retirement from making action movies. But he’s kind of been doing that in small steps for quite a while now, by taking roles that try to combine the dramatic, artful storytelling of his pre-Taken with the “grandpa with a particular set of skills” stuff we’ve come to expect. The results have been mixed, for the most part, and the same goes for Absolution, a plodding, formulaic crime drama that nonetheless features a game performance by Neeson.
Absolution bears the hallmarks of a lot of different Neeson movies from his recent run, in which troubled, dangerous men are faced with existential crises. His character, known only as Thug, is an aging Boston gangster who has seen and done some pretty shitting things. Ageism being a thing in the criminal underworld, he’s disrespected by those younger than him (he’s called “Jurassic Park” by another criminal), even though he does his job faithfully and can still kick ass when asked to. Lonely and sad, he’s estranged from his daughter (Frankie Shaw) and her son, and hopes to reconnect with them. Even worse, he’s been diagnosed with CTE due to all of the blows to the head from an earlier boxing career. With his memory slipping and health fading, all he wants is to do some good before his time is up.
The film is directed by Norwegian filmmaker Hans Petter Molland, who is tasked with sprucing up a sparse script that has no clear enemy for Neeson’s character to fight. Various subplots are introduced that work better than others. The reliably strong Yolanda Ross turns up as his love interest, a woman with more than her share of personal demons. They’re both people in need of help but too prideful to ask anyone for it, even each other. A pretty good non-action movie could’ve been made about them both. He must also contend with his longtime boss, Mr. Conner, played by an underused Ron Perlman, who has tasked him with schooling his disrespectful son (Daniel Diemer) on the family business. He must also make sure Conner never finds out about his cognitive decline, otherwise there could be repercussions. These stories carry little suspense, especially through the first hour when there’s almost no action at all.
A major misstep involves a series of dream sequences in which Neeson is seen floating on the water with his father, and imagining the faces of people he’s failed to help. For a grounded crime film like Absolution these diversions are just bizarre and have no place whatsoever. They belong in a different movie.
Things pick up heading into the second hour, but by then Absolution has mostly worn out its welcome. Neeson’s Thug character, whose code is to “look away” from the crimes he’s committing, doesn’t realize he’s involved in human trafficking. But when he does, it begins his turn towards violence against those he’s always worked for. Those eager to see Neeson hit some baddies and engage in a few shootouts will get what they came for, but it’s not nearly enough to save what is a largely dull effort overall. If Neeson is really hanging up the action star mantle for good, it would be sad if Absolution were the film he concludes with.
Samuel Goldwyn Films releases Absolution in theaters on November 1st.
