THE STORY – An aging gangster tries to reconnect with his children and fix the mistakes from the past, but his criminal lifestyle soon threatens to destroy everything he holds dear.
THE CAST – Liam Neeson, Yolanda Ross, Frankie Shaw, Daniel Diemer, Javier Molina & Ron Perlman
THE TEAM – Hans Petter Moland (Director) & Tony Gayton (Writer)
THE RUNNING TIME – 122 Minutes
We start Hans Petter Moland’s “Absolution” with Liam Neeson’s unnamed protagonist monologing about his rough childhood, as he pounds down a glass of whiskey in his lifeless waterfront house. Audiences are presumed to believe that the hardened gangster has lived quite a rocky existence, but now he’s relegated to doing routine dropoffs and showing the ropes to his bosses’ wannabe gangster of a son (played by Daniel Diemer). After discovering he has developed a severe case of CTE, the older gangster begins to reevaluate past decisions in his life. This diagnosis sends him on a journey for change and a chance at reconciling with his estranged daughter (played by Frankie Shaw). “Absolution” certainly isn’t the first film about an aging criminal trying to compensate for lost time. It’s also not the first one in Liam Nesson’s filmography either. So why does this feel like one of the more uninspired projects he’s been a part of? Moland and Neeson’s previous collaboration, “Cold Pursuit,” was a delightful departure from the highly unsatisfying sub-genre of Neeson’s Redbox classics. With “Absolution,” everything plays out in the most trite manner. It goes entirely as you expect, playing around with the (un)greatest hits of every cliche this film opted to incorporate.
Like the memory of Liam Neeson’s character in “Absolution,” the plot trails off constantly as Tony Gayton’s screenplay is as unfocused as it is uninteresting. The story unevenly juggles its desire to capture these dueling lives the protagonist is balancing. So many storylines feel unresolved, while key relationships often feel inorganically rushed through to keep the story moving forward. At times, the entire aspect of his criminal career is put on hold to explore such bland relationships, whether with his daughter’s family or a potential love interest (played by Yolanda Ross). It doesn’t help that every performance ranges from phoned-in to just bad. Neeson essentially is sleepwalking through the film, which is disappointing cause he was far more watchable in this year’s “In the Land of Saints and Sinners.” There are moments where you can see that Neeson truly believed that the material would elicit some exciting work from himself. However, watching the final result only leads me to wonder why he even bothered starring in this. Moland’s direction is solid, yet with this collaboration with Neeson, “Absolution” becomes so self-serious that it eventually becomes a chore to watch.
Dream sequences appear throughout, which are so metaphorically on the nose that they come off as more comical than emotionally stirring. It also doesn’t help that the pacing is quite horrid for a film under two hours. The only technical aspect of “Absolution” that makes it feel noticeable is the cinematography by Tom Stern. The way Stern attempts to use space leads to some lovely imagery, but overall, it’s efficiently shot in a manner that a film of this degree requires. It is funny that for a movie that is essentially a crime drama, the moments where the action does break out are orchestrated in such a disposable manner compared to simple moments like Neeson’s character’s going on a visit to the hospital. What is the point when the action is disappointing, and the drama leaves no reason for viewers to invest in the story emotionally?
Ever since 2008’s “Taken,” it feels like Nesson’s career evolved, turning the aging actor into one of the industry’s more unexpected movie stars. It feels few and far between when we see glimpses of the actor Neeson used to be. Now and then, we get a “Silence” or a “Widows” out of him, but at this point, it feels out of the ordinary not to see Neeson kicking some type of ass in front of a movie screen. Recently, the seventy-two-year-old actor has been open to how he is aging out of this career phase, as it’s impossible to keep this act up forever. That’s why, on paper, “Absolution” seemed like a nice tee-up for the Academy Award nominee. A character that ironically comes off as a meta-commentary for his place in the business, being directed by a filmmaker with whom he has successfully collaborated before. Instead, “Absolution” disappoints in almost every measure, not even earning the merit of being the worst film he’s made. Ultimately, “Absolution” is just another in the long line of less-than-digestible action film that blends in with all the rest Liam has made in the past few years alone.
