This movie was another item on my February watchlist. I just had the time finally watch this one!
This movie starrs thee legend Liam Neeson, Diane Kruger, Stella Stocker (“The Batman”), Darrell D’Silva (“Cash Truck”), Kim DeLonghi (“The Last Son”), just to name a few.
This movie was directed by Neil Jordan.
This movie was released on February 15th 2023. This movie was rated R for language, violence, sexual content and brief drug abuse.
This movie debuted at the “Zürich International Film Festival”.
This movie is a Crime/Thriller.
Onto the premise: In late 1930s Bay City, a brooding, down on his luck detective is hired to find the ex-lover of a glamorous heiress.
It’s a neo-noir detective drama set in 1939 in Bay City, California.
It follows detective Philip Marlowe as he tries to find a man who had supposedly been killed in a hit-and-run accident.
Philip Marlowe (Liam Neeson) is a World War I veteran, who worked briefly for the Los Angeles Police as a detective but now is a private detective.
Clare Cavendish (Diane Kruger), a married young blonde, asks Marlowe to find Nico Peterson, her lover who worked at a film studio owned by her very wealthy mother and former film star, Dorothy Quincannon.
Marlowe soon learns that Peterson died outside an exclusive private club in a hit-and-run accident.
However, it soon appears that Peterson is not dead, and a wide variety of potential villains are looking for him, including the manager of the private club.
Marlowe pursues other sources of information, but each comes to an unfortunate end. By the movie’s end, Marlowe solves the mystery with the help of the police, with who he remains on good terms, and an African American hood, Cedric, who serves as muscle for Lou Hendricks.
There is much to like in “Marlowe” that fits the neo-noir style of clipped conversation, a world-weary detective unafraid to use his fists, and glamourous but suspicious female leads. However, the ending was too predictable, and numerous characters begged for more context and development. It’s not in the same ballpark with “Chinatown.”
The scenery is compelling and beautifully shot.
The dialogue is deliberate with subtle jabs at modern issues.
This movie takes you cleverly through the story with each distinctive character adding something unexpected to the mix.
I expect over time that people will come to appreciate this well written, well executed project.
Did you know? This film is based upon the 2014 novel “The Black-Eyed Blonde” by Benjamin Black, not one of Raymond Chandler’s original Marlowe works.
Liam Neeson’s 100th film.
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