Absolution (2024) Review!!

Synopsis – An aging gangster attempts to reconnect with his children and rectify the mistakes in his past, but the criminal underworld won’t loosen their grip willingly.

My Take – It is hard to believe, but it’s been sixteen years since Taken (2008) released and turned Liam Neeson into the most improbable action star on the planet.

Though his films are no longer the blockbusters they were about 10 years ago, the massively talented veteran performer still continues to remain synonymous with these mid budgeted thrillers and crime films, mainly as they still turn out to be profitable ventures in the long term.

His latest vehicle, also one of his final associations with the genre since he has announced that he’ll soon be retiring from such roles, a career move he plans to implement by the end of 2025, sees him reteam with director Hans Petter Moland after the two collaborated on Cold Pursuit (2019), a delicious black comedy thriller.

However, despite being marketed as yet another painless Neeson fronted action flick, it is really more of a noir tinged drama with some genre elements that while more ambitious than some films he’s lately done, isn’t all that successful in delivering.

Sure, it’s not any worse than the awful stuff that has come out in the last 5 years, but this seedy crime drama makes it uniquely clear that Neeson is stepping away from his schlock at just the right time. Baked together with an endless parade of boring scenes, stale action sequences, and empty dialogue that drags on for what feels like hours, there simply isn’t anything here we haven’t seen before.

Also, this isn’t even the first time in the last few years that Neeson has played a grizzled enforcer struggling with a severe neurodegenerative disease (2022’s Memory).

Yes, it tries to add a little something extra to the well-worn conveyor of Liam Neeson led genre films but it’s such a rough mixture of haphazard character drama and bland noir cliches that it doesn’t even deserve a minimal recommendation.

Set in Boston, the story follows a former boxer turned low level Thug (Liam Neeson) who works for local crime boss Charlie Connor (Ron Perlman) and his hasty son, Daniel Diemer (Kyle Conner). But after realizing that he is forgetting things too often, he visits a doctor and is informed that after a lifetime of taking continuous blows to the head has left him with CTE.

With no treatment or medicine available and an unclear estimation of how much time he has left, the Thug starts preparing to get his affairs in order including re-establishing contact with his estranged daughter Rosie (Frankie Shaw) and grandson.

Throughout its run time of 112 minutes, one can’t help but feel that premise is all too familiar, recycling tropes from the genre without taking any effort to elevate them. Neeson‘s character, whose tragic backstory and moral ambiguity are supposed to create depth, ends up as a hollow stereotype of the brooding, lone avenger he has played in almost every film the past decade. Even the script offers little to distinguish his character.

During the first two thirds the film juggles many different plot elements like his relationship with a woman (Yolonda Ross), the jobs he’s running for Charlie Connor, or a recurring dream sequence involving his father and a boat that just feels really out of place.

Once we’re in the third act it basically just gives up and becomes a standard Neeson rampage but by that point those who came expecting it may feel it’s too little too late while those invested in the character drama will be disappointed that it doesn’t really payoff.

The stakes feel so low and the twists so predictable that it’s hard to muster any emotional investment.

Indeed, the scenes where he’s struggling to remember things like his dead son or what he actually intended to do are the highlights of the film and it honestly makes one wish that it had ditched the familiar thriller trappings and been more of the character drama it really wants to be.

Surprisingly, even the action sequences, which should have been the film’s saving grace, fall flat. They’re competently choreographed but lack the adrenaline-pumping intensity or emotional stakes that make for truly memorable experience.

Performance wise, Liam Neeson, as always, does his best with the material he’s given. No stranger to playing grizzled men with grudges, the Irish actor goes through the necessary motions, fully committing to his role. Ron Perlman is severely underused and never given the opportunity to do more with his character.

Daniel Diemer, Frankie Shaw and Yolonda Ross are alright in supporting roles. On the whole, ‘Absolution‘ is an uninspired crime thriller that exists solely to capitalize on Liam Neeson‘s star power.