Liam Neeson gives a solid performance while given mid-tier, underbaked material to work with in the crime drama Absolution. While there has been speculation that this will be Neeson’s “final” action movie (something that has been said about his last seven or eight action movies, to be fair), Absolution is more of a slow burn character drama than it is a thrill ride into the criminal underworld. While that’s an admirable shift which allows Neeson to tap into the acting talent everyone knows he has in abundance, Absolution doesn’t have anything going for it other than that singular character, leading to a flimsy final product.
Neeson stars as an unnamed Boston area criminal lifer who looks like he hasn’t bought a new piece of clothing since the early 1970s. He’s got a good mind for business and can handle himself in a fight, but years of boxing and brawling have left him with CTE related memory lapses, a diagnosis that will see his physical and mental health rapidly decline in the not too distant future. His boss (Ron Perlman) is concerned that the thug (as the character is credited) is losing his grip, so he asks the old timer to show his skittish, green, coke addled son (Daniel Diemer) the ropes. Amid this lifestyle adjustment, the aging gun slinger begins a new romantic relationship with a woman (Yolonda Ross) who’s equally concerned about his wellbeing, and he tries to reconnect with his estranged daughter (Frankie Shaw), who emphatically and vocally doesn’t care what happens to her deadbeat dad.
Absolution re-teams Neeson with Norwegian director Hans Petter Moland following their work on Cold Pursuit, a remake of the filmmaker’s own (better) effort In Order of Disappearance. While Moland saves most of his best visual flourishes for the climax – which isn’t bombastic, but instead hard-hitting and gently poetic – he’s always trying to imbue Absolution with a proper degree of melancholy. While most of the time the camera simply has to linger upon Neeson’s craggy visage, downtrodden shuffle, and stuck-in-time fashion sense to make its point, Moland brings a chilliness to its Boston area locations. There are also a few stunning dream sequences where Neeson has visions of being on a boat ride with his deceased father (Josh Drennen) that look like they belong in a much better film than this. Visually, Absolution is trying to tap into the mood that Neeson is conveying, but the script from Tony Gayton (Murder by Numbers, Faster) is so limp that any of Moland’s efforts behind the camera feel like window dressing.
Neeson is more than up to the challenge, even though the fight is kind of like the losing battles being faced by his character. It’s always captivating to watch Neeson work through his tough guy issues, whether it’s the debilitating effects of his condition, wrestling with his own obsolescence, or struggling to listen to his conscience and do the right things for a change. Even when Neeson’s character is yelling at others for perceived slights, the actor makes it subtly noticeable that this guy is more mad at himself for letting things get to such a point than he is at those around him. He has great chemistry opposite Ross, Shaw, Perlman, and young performer Terrence Pulliam (as his grandson), but these performers aren’t able to raise the film to any great degree because Gayton’s script has forgotten to give any of them something substantial to do.
Watching Absolution is a passive experience where the viewer knows the whole time where all of this is headed, and the journey is a straight line without deviation. The sombre tone works, but the storytelling is dramatically inert and lacking in tension. If Absolution wants to be an action picture, it would need more than the tiny handful of dustups that happen here to quicken the pulse. If it wants to be the drama it could be, it needs a lot more depth and insight than simply resting on Neeson’s abilities to carry a movie.
Without Neeson, Absolution would be one of the most forgettable footnotes of the year. With his participation, it’s a mediocre movie with a solid dramatic presence steering the ship. The only main selling point of Absolution is Neeson, but that’s not enough to make this appointment viewing, either in a cinema or at home where most people who catch this are likely to see it in the future. But credit to Neeson and Moland for doing what they can here, even if it’s still not enough.
Absolution is now playing in theatres everywhere.
