As memory serves, it was only about two and a half years ago that Liam Neeson played a career criminal with early dementia in the elegantly constructed, well-acted and taut thriller “Memory.” Now comes “Absolution,” an elegantly constructed, well-acted and taut thriller starring Liam Neeson as … a career criminal with early dementia.
Yes, it feels as if we’ve seen this movie before — but thanks to the suitably gritty and grainy, New England-set direction by Hans Petter Moland, the still-resonant star power of Neeson and a terrific supporting cast, “Absolution” delivers a punch with a sting all its own.
For a number of years, the now 72-year-old Neeson has been talking about how he can’t do action movies forever; in a 2020 conversation, he told me it was important his character in “Honest Thief” be a little out of shape because “audiences wise up to that stuff. This guy [isn’t] 33.” Yet here we are in 2024, and Neeson continues his streak of making films with tag lines such as TAKE BACK YOUR LIFE (“Unknown”) and NEVER STEAL A MAN’S SECOND CHANCE (“Honest Thief”) and now EVERYONE PAYS IN THE END (“Absolution”).
Reuniting with his “Cold Pursuit” (REVENGE IS BEST SERVED COLD) director Moland in this bare-knuckled thriller, Neeson proves there’s still plenty of petrol in the tank with his resonant performance as an aging, mid-level criminal who is experiencing rapid losses of memory and cognitive function — and sets out to right some wrongs before it’s too late.
Neeson’s “Thug” (that’s the name he’s given in the credits) has worked for decades as a courier/muscle guy for the local crime boss Charlie Conner (a perfectly cast Ron Perlman), but he’s on his way out and has been tasked with grooming Charlie’s idiot, hothead son Kyle (Daniel Diemer) to take over his duties. Finally starting to admit he’s in rapid decline, Thug attempts to reconnect with his estranged daughter Daisy (Frankie Shaw, doing something special with what could have been a clichéd role) and to get acquainted with Daisy’s son Dre (Terrence Pulliam).
He also embarks on a relationship with a woman (Yolonda Ross from “The Chi”) who has lived a life as hard as Thug’s but has a caring heart underneath, though she agrees with Thug when he tells her this thing between them isn’t going to end well, because that’s their lives.
“Absolution” has echoes of the original “Taken” when Thug employs his particular set of skills in an effort to rescue women who have been abducted and forced to become sex workers. Director Moland knows how to stage action sequences, at one point creating one of the most shocking quick-kill moments I’ve seen in any movie in recent years.
Though the film is set in present day, it’s reminiscent of crime thrillers from a half-century ago; even Thug’s facial hair and “fashion” choices make him look like a character in a 1975 indie film. EVERYONE PAYS IN THE END, indeed. Just about everybody in “Absolution” gets what they deserve, for better or worse or death.