Marlowe (C+ or 2/4 stars)
'Marlowe' (based on a popular novel, and directed & co-written by Neil Jordan, of The Crying Game & Michael Collins fame) is a noir crime thriller with some impressive production values & an impressive cast ... I just wish the script were up to task. Set in L.A. in 1939, we follow the titular Philip Marlowe (Liam Neeson), a former cop who previously worked in the D.A.'s office but is now a self-employed, down-on-his-luck private detective.
With his reputation preceding him, glamorous heiress Clare Cavendish (Diane Kruger) - daughter of widowed oil baroness/former silent film star, Dorothy Quincannon (Jessica Lange) - hires Marlowe to find her lover, film studio prop master Nico Peterson (Francois Arnaud) who has mysteriously gone missing. Early into the investigation, Marlowe learns that Nico was killed in a gruesome hit-&-run accident - with his sister, Lynn (Daniela Melchior) - identifying the mangled body, but then, intriguingly so ... Clare informs Marlowe that she saw Nico in Tijuana. How can that be if he's dead?
To that, Marlowe continues his search, including swinging by an elite members-only club run by Floyd Hanson (Danny Huston, always a good 'heavy') just outside of which Nico was supposedly killed. Marlowe also has a brush with criminal Lou Hendricks (Alan Cumming) & his subservient driver/henchman, Cedric (Adewale Akinnuoye Agbaje); even a mysterious figure known as The Ambassador (Mitchell Mullen) might be involved. As Marlowe delves deeper & deeper, he finds a labyrinthine scenario that he must untangle to determine whether Nico is alive & well or the corpse that was found outside that club; and who has the motive to either kill him or make him know that he has to go on the run?
I love Liam Neeson as an actor. I admire Diane Kruger as an actress. And I really love Jessica Lange; who works far too infrequently. But none of them could save this dreary, convoluted mess of a movie. When I say convoluted, I mean that there are so many red herrings & rushed plot points that you can barely keep track or - worse yet - care. The plot is uninvolving. And there are stretches of such self-seriousness that you almost think that the filmmakers are going for parody; that it is imitative of other films of its ilk, rather than being its own thing.
At age 70, this is Liam Neeson's 100th film and, I just wish it were indicative of his talents. He's fine here, but doesn't seem as invested as he usually is. Diane Kruger is a beauty and, I loved her ion 2009's Inglourious Basterds, but she doesn't feel quite comfortable in her enigmatic role. And Jessica Lange can do no wrong, for me; she rivets with her line readings. That said, neither she, nor anyone else in the cast, can elevate the movie past mediocrity. Doubling for L.A., 'Marlowe' was filmed in Barcelona & Dublin and, it contains some stylish outfits, amazing vintage cars & other great period sets. But it just doesn't matter. The film ends and ya feel like nothing major happened, at all. It was all just too mundane.
With his reputation preceding him, glamorous heiress Clare Cavendish (Diane Kruger) - daughter of widowed oil baroness/former silent film star, Dorothy Quincannon (Jessica Lange) - hires Marlowe to find her lover, film studio prop master Nico Peterson (Francois Arnaud) who has mysteriously gone missing. Early into the investigation, Marlowe learns that Nico was killed in a gruesome hit-&-run accident - with his sister, Lynn (Daniela Melchior) - identifying the mangled body, but then, intriguingly so ... Clare informs Marlowe that she saw Nico in Tijuana. How can that be if he's dead?
To that, Marlowe continues his search, including swinging by an elite members-only club run by Floyd Hanson (Danny Huston, always a good 'heavy') just outside of which Nico was supposedly killed. Marlowe also has a brush with criminal Lou Hendricks (Alan Cumming) & his subservient driver/henchman, Cedric (Adewale Akinnuoye Agbaje); even a mysterious figure known as The Ambassador (Mitchell Mullen) might be involved. As Marlowe delves deeper & deeper, he finds a labyrinthine scenario that he must untangle to determine whether Nico is alive & well or the corpse that was found outside that club; and who has the motive to either kill him or make him know that he has to go on the run?
I love Liam Neeson as an actor. I admire Diane Kruger as an actress. And I really love Jessica Lange; who works far too infrequently. But none of them could save this dreary, convoluted mess of a movie. When I say convoluted, I mean that there are so many red herrings & rushed plot points that you can barely keep track or - worse yet - care. The plot is uninvolving. And there are stretches of such self-seriousness that you almost think that the filmmakers are going for parody; that it is imitative of other films of its ilk, rather than being its own thing.
At age 70, this is Liam Neeson's 100th film and, I just wish it were indicative of his talents. He's fine here, but doesn't seem as invested as he usually is. Diane Kruger is a beauty and, I loved her ion 2009's Inglourious Basterds, but she doesn't feel quite comfortable in her enigmatic role. And Jessica Lange can do no wrong, for me; she rivets with her line readings. That said, neither she, nor anyone else in the cast, can elevate the movie past mediocrity. Doubling for L.A., 'Marlowe' was filmed in Barcelona & Dublin and, it contains some stylish outfits, amazing vintage cars & other great period sets. But it just doesn't matter. The film ends and ya feel like nothing major happened, at all. It was all just too mundane.