In Hans Petter Moland’s “Absolution,” Liam Neeson looks exhausted. His character has been beating people up for money for as long as he can remember, and here he is, at it again. The incessant drone of meaningless violence has taken its toll and now he’s just going through the motions. Unfortunately, it looks like Neeson has a similar problem: He’s trapped once again in tired tough guy material, bringing gravity to a film that’s already dragging him — and the audience — down.
Liam Neeson has had a fascinating career, and he’s spent a lot of it balancing mature dramas and action films. But in the last decade-and-a-half, the balance shifted and many of his roles are now aging tough guys on one last crusade, committing murders which also somehow save his broken family. Even the comedic parts usually play off his deadly dad persona: “Missile Tow,” a fake Liam Neeson movie in “Daddy’s Home 2,” feels only slightly removed from reality (“You did it, Daddy! You killed them all!” “No kids. We did it. We killed them all. Together.”).
It’s a formula that can only be revisited so many times before it loses its potency, unless you inject some new vitality into the mix. But vitality is the last word that describes “Absolution.” Neeson plays an old criminal whose name isn’t important, he’s literally listed as “Thug” in the closing credits. For the last 30 years, he’s been working for Mr. Conner (Ron Perlman), a crime boss operating out of the back of a mattress supply store. But lately, Thug has been having memory problems. He forgets his boss’ name. He forgets where he lives.
In the movie’s one clever moment, Thug picks up a giant box of illicit oxycodone from a seedy doctor and asks, since this particular criminal has at least done the reading, for some free medical advice. It turns out, the prognosis isn’t good. Thug has been suffering concussions his whole life, ever since his abusive childhood and on through his boxing career. Presumably, crime didn’t help much either. Thug is in cognitive decline and he only has a year or two, at most, before he’s unable to take care of himself.
So it’s suddenly a bad thing that Thug has alienated his two adult children, Daisy and Colin. Thug didn’t even know Colin died of a heroin overdose two years ago. Daisy (Frankie Shaw, “No Sudden Move”) has a son, Dre (Terrence Pulliam), who Thug has never met. Thug sure is sad about stuff. He’s got stuff to be sad about. It’s a little hard for the rest of us to feel sorry for him since we know he’s been involved in human trafficking and god only knows what else over his three-decade crime spree, but he’s Liam Neeson in a Liam Neeson movie, so we know he’s going to do Liam Neeson stuff eventually and get back on the right side of the angels, presumably with violence.
But first he’s going to brood for nearly two hours. There’s a whole lot of sadness and not a lot of incident. It’s clear very quickly that Thug just isn’t very interesting. He’s had a lousy life, sure, but so have lots of other people and they managed to emerge with a personality and/or a conscience.
Movies like “Absolution” seem to think that when it comes to having a conscience, it’s better late than never. Probably so, but it’s not much better since one good turn right at the end does little to balance the scales after a lifetime of not giving a crap and hurting god knows how many people, innocent or otherwise (At least Ebenezer Scrooge had some time to redistribute his wealth). We’re supposed to find Thug morally complicated, even though the movie itself thinks “Thug” says it all. Presumably, we’re at least supposed to find him sympathetic, but Moland (“Cold Pursuit”) doesn’t get us there. Sad Neeson is sad, he probably deserves to be, and that’s most of the film.
“Absolution” also has melancholy cinematography from top to bottom, which is tonally appropriate even though it has no energy. Neeson does have an affair with an extremely nice woman, named only Woman (Yolonda Ross, “The Chi”), and he has one positive afternoon with his grandson, but otherwise, there’s nothing to be happy about. Even the film’s plodding, tedious score has an annoying recurring buzzing noise that sounds exactly like your vibrating cell phone, which manages to be atmospherically oppressive while also taking you out of the film entirely. Sure, Liam Neeson is having a moment, but that could be your mom calling. You can’t assume it’s not. It might be important.
If “Absolution” has value, it’s because it plays a bit like a referendum on aging action movie stardom. This seems to have been an accident, since nothing in the text supports it outside of Liam Neeson playing yet another Liam Neeson role in yet another Liam Neeson movie, with nothing else to show for it. But watching this typical role play out in a lifeless vacuum gives us time to think about it. Churning out interchangeable thrillers has to mean something after a while. If violence, or at least depictions of violence, can define your career, how does that definition read? If only “Absolution” had something to actually say about this — or anything else — other than crime is bad, human connection is good and Liam Neeson is Liam Neeson. Yet again.
“Absolution” is now in theaters.
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