by Robert Bouffard, Editor
Marlowe is the 100th movie of Liam Neeson’s long and storied career. So in a way it’s fitting that it it somewhat of a throwback. Since Neeson started an extended string of action movies with 2008’s Taken, he hasn’t done many movies like Schindler’s List or Les Misérables. But Marlowe is a throwback in a couple of ways: It’s a throwback for Neeson in that he’s not simply an old, badass action hero, and it’s a throwback to the type of detective movie that Hollywood doesn’t make nearly as often as it used to.
Make no mistake, Marlowe owes a lot of its limited successes to classic Hollywood noir tales of private eyes. Its 1930s Hollywood setting only heightens that feeling, and its direct reference to The Maltese Falcon makes it even a bit too on the nose (Humphrey Bogart himself even played the role of Marlowe himself in The Big Sleep). These days, the only mainstream mysteries we get are Kenneth Branagh’s Poirot movies or snarky, self-aware ones like Glass Onion. Those movies are successful in their own ways, but the tone of Marlowe feels like a refreshing blast from the past.
At the same time, with director and co-writer Neil Jordan at the helm (it’s co-written with William Monahan), there’s some impressive and effective filmmaking being shown off. Clever dialogue is delivered within the frame of carefully constructed shots and meticulously blocked scenes, which helps to visually enhance the lackluster story.
But unfortunately that’s pretty much where the positives end. Neeson seems very happy not to be doing an old man action movie, but there is little to no characterization for Marlowe himself. All we know about him is that he’s a rugged, old detective who’s past his prime. Knowing a detailed backstory isn’t important, especially for the type of detective story where the detective himself isn’t the focus, but it’s brought down even further by the fact that the mystery is completely uninteresting as well.
This is a story of corporate and institutional conspiracy, with a femme fatale at the center — we’ve seen it a thousand times before. It’s a shame, because with how well-directed the film is, you’d hope to see just a bit more of substance. Instead, there isn’t much of anything to get out of the story or the film as a whole.
Score: 5/10
Marlowe is currently playing in theaters
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