Knox Goes Away (2024) :
Movie Review -
Michael Keaton has achieved everything that he could have dreamt of. Now, at this phase of his career, he becomes director and lead actor for a crime thriller with the conflict of dementia, titled "Knox Goes Away." To start on a positive note, he goes away with a solid performance to his credit. However, the film is a little slow to carry you along for 2 hours. That's needed, though, but somewhere it hurts the viewing experience because the theme is very serious. It becomes a little depressing and boring during the process of overcoming its odds. A topic like dementia is a task in itself, and then aligning it with a genre like a crime thriller makes the task even tougher. Yet, Keaton's performance and a couple of twists in the last quarter make it a decent-to-good, watchable flick.
The film is about John Knox (Michael Keaton), a contract killer diagnosed with a serious type of dementia called Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. Knowing that it can't be cured, he vows to spend his final days attempting to redeem himself by saving the life of his son, Miles Knox (played by James Marsden). Miles has killed a guy in anger and is now in desperate need of help. Nobody can help him but his father, whom he has never cared much for. During this save-your-neck contract, in the confusion, he accidentally kills his partner, Thomas Muncie (Ray McKinnon), and leaves many corpses. Despite having a policy of goodwill for killing, Knox finds himself in a race against the authorities as well as the ticking clock of his own rapidly deteriorating mind, which can break him down anytime now. Meanwhile, a smart detective, Emily (Suzy Nakamura), is after the killer with her on-point theories.
The film explores those seven weeks of his in one linear equation to avoid confusion. The screenplay tries to be safe here but is countered by the placid behaviour from the first scene to the last. The first half doesn't hold you to its pace, but the second half shows much better hold. Al Pacino's character leaves you a little confused on which side he was and how that anonymous call can go unnoticed so easily. Keaton's actual redemption is well worth it in the end. Knox Goes Away has some highs that are too good, and they are enough to recommend this crime thriller to genre lovers and Keaton and Pacino lovers. But remember, *conditions apply*.
Michael Keaton has been very consistent throughout his career, so there is nothing to point out about him. He plays the role of a killer with dementia, which is a weird but interesting combination to be seen on celluloid. But it's his own work and his own conviction that make you believe in his character. Of course, he is not deadly or a cruel anti-hero. That Robinhood touch makes it different from that particular 'bad image'. Al Pacino does well, but the screen time isn't fulfilling. There should have been more scenes, or at least more dialogues, to make his presence noticeable. Suzy Nakamura grips you from the very first scene and keeps things that way till the end. That "white man" joke couldn't have suited anybody else but her. James Marsden has also done a good job here, with a lot of variations helping the character build up for him. Joanna Kulig, John Hoogenakker, Lela Loren, and Ray McKinnon's support was decent.
Knox Goes Away is a well-made film on technical fronts. The cinematography, score, and editing are pretty impressive. But the editor should have paid attention to its pace and the line-up of events. The film lacks some powerful dialogue from both sides: the killer and the cops. The face-off could have been a little informal to add dramatic appeal to the film. As you know, a thriller can't be that slow, and one or two twists can't save it. This movie suffers from these two issues mainly, if not anything else. However, Keaton, an actor, comes to its rescue and drops it in the safe corner. The director Keaton was pretty underwhelming, and that can't be argued. As a whole, Knox Goes Away is more of Keaton's acting show than the cinematic crime-thriller show. That's still enough to give it a go!
RATING - 6/10*
Michael Keaton has achieved everything that he could have dreamt of. Now, at this phase of his career, he becomes director and lead actor for a crime thriller with the conflict of dementia, titled "Knox Goes Away." To start on a positive note, he goes away with a solid performance to his credit. However, the film is a little slow to carry you along for 2 hours. That's needed, though, but somewhere it hurts the viewing experience because the theme is very serious. It becomes a little depressing and boring during the process of overcoming its odds. A topic like dementia is a task in itself, and then aligning it with a genre like a crime thriller makes the task even tougher. Yet, Keaton's performance and a couple of twists in the last quarter make it a decent-to-good, watchable flick.
The film is about John Knox (Michael Keaton), a contract killer diagnosed with a serious type of dementia called Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. Knowing that it can't be cured, he vows to spend his final days attempting to redeem himself by saving the life of his son, Miles Knox (played by James Marsden). Miles has killed a guy in anger and is now in desperate need of help. Nobody can help him but his father, whom he has never cared much for. During this save-your-neck contract, in the confusion, he accidentally kills his partner, Thomas Muncie (Ray McKinnon), and leaves many corpses. Despite having a policy of goodwill for killing, Knox finds himself in a race against the authorities as well as the ticking clock of his own rapidly deteriorating mind, which can break him down anytime now. Meanwhile, a smart detective, Emily (Suzy Nakamura), is after the killer with her on-point theories.
The film explores those seven weeks of his in one linear equation to avoid confusion. The screenplay tries to be safe here but is countered by the placid behaviour from the first scene to the last. The first half doesn't hold you to its pace, but the second half shows much better hold. Al Pacino's character leaves you a little confused on which side he was and how that anonymous call can go unnoticed so easily. Keaton's actual redemption is well worth it in the end. Knox Goes Away has some highs that are too good, and they are enough to recommend this crime thriller to genre lovers and Keaton and Pacino lovers. But remember, *conditions apply*.
Michael Keaton has been very consistent throughout his career, so there is nothing to point out about him. He plays the role of a killer with dementia, which is a weird but interesting combination to be seen on celluloid. But it's his own work and his own conviction that make you believe in his character. Of course, he is not deadly or a cruel anti-hero. That Robinhood touch makes it different from that particular 'bad image'. Al Pacino does well, but the screen time isn't fulfilling. There should have been more scenes, or at least more dialogues, to make his presence noticeable. Suzy Nakamura grips you from the very first scene and keeps things that way till the end. That "white man" joke couldn't have suited anybody else but her. James Marsden has also done a good job here, with a lot of variations helping the character build up for him. Joanna Kulig, John Hoogenakker, Lela Loren, and Ray McKinnon's support was decent.
Knox Goes Away is a well-made film on technical fronts. The cinematography, score, and editing are pretty impressive. But the editor should have paid attention to its pace and the line-up of events. The film lacks some powerful dialogue from both sides: the killer and the cops. The face-off could have been a little informal to add dramatic appeal to the film. As you know, a thriller can't be that slow, and one or two twists can't save it. This movie suffers from these two issues mainly, if not anything else. However, Keaton, an actor, comes to its rescue and drops it in the safe corner. The director Keaton was pretty underwhelming, and that can't be argued. As a whole, Knox Goes Away is more of Keaton's acting show than the cinematic crime-thriller show. That's still enough to give it a go!
RATING - 6/10*