IMPORTANT NOTE: This piece was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Without the labor of the writers and actors currently on strike, the movies being covered here wouldn’t exist.
Released: 6th April
Seen: 11th September
Philip Marlowe started life as a character created in the 1920s, created by Raymond Chandler for a series of short stories that appeared in assorted magazines at the time. Before Raymond’s death in 1959 he would end up writing over half a dozen books about Philip Marlowe’s adventures, along with several short stories that would make up a few anthologies. The character was so popular that even after Raymond’s death there were books written by other authors, more and more detective stories about Marlowe have filled bookshelves over the years.
He’s also been a regular figure in film, being played by such icons as Humphrey Bogart and James Garner in some of the many adaptations he’s been in. The last feature adaptation of a Marlowe story was back in 1978, which coincidentally was the year that a 26-year-old Liam Neeson would make his feature film debut so it’s weirdly perfect that Liam Neeson’s 100th film would be in a franchise that hasn’t been around the entire time he’s been working… just would’ve been nice if the role was still interesting enough to be remarkable.
Marlowe begins with the titular Philip Marlowe (Liam Neeson) in his office when a beautiful blonde named Clare Cavendish (Diane Kruger) walks into his life. She comes with a small proposition for Marlowe, her husband has gone missing and she needs someone to find him. Soon Marlowe discovers that Clare’s husband isn’t missing, he’s dead and while some might have written off his death as a horrible accident, Marlowe sees that there’s something a little more going on. So Marlow sets forth on an investigation that’ll make him have to interact with Clare’s mother Dorothy Quincannon (Jessica Lange), a drug lord named Lou (Alan Cumming) and a shocking final act reveal that would be surprising if the audience really cared that much.
Marlowe is one of those films that has all the ingredients to make for a fun nostalgic throwback. It’s got a 1930s setting that it mostly sticks to, a lot of fantastic actors delivering their all and it’s playing around in the detective noir genre which just doesn’t have enough modern entries in it so the combination of great content and minimal competition should theoretically help this film, but that’s just a theory and in reality this film is just kind of dull. You can certainly see where it might have possibly worked with a little more tweaking but all its good elements just aren’t quite calibrated in a way that make for a truly enjoyable film.
Starting from the obvious problem, for a film that’s meant to be set in the 1930s Marlowe sure doesn’t feel like it. While a lot of details feel right, from the costumes to the set design, the dialogue just feels a little too modern which often pulls the viewer out of the story that’s trying to be told. Some of the language just doesn’t fit the time period and at several points it’s definitely just not even trying to feel like a film that belongs in the 30s. When it actually goes along with the style of a 30s film, it’s actually quite good. A beautiful modern-looking take on the noir film is a fun idea and it would’ve been fun to stick with that but there are enough deviations to pull you out.
What also could’ve been fun is giving these amazing actors some big juicy parts to play with, and some of them absolutely understood the assignment. Jessica Lange takes over the screen with the kind of ease that you only get by being an Oscar-winning icon, Alan Cumming’s natural charm makes his few scenes delightful and even Danny Huston has enough of a presence to really make his moments stand out… Did you notice the lead actor of this film wasn’t among those? Possibly because Liam Neeson is just kind of doing the thing Liam Neeson does, being a slightly gruff, over-it man who can kick ass and who every young woman might want to sleep with. It’s not engaging at all, it should be the kind of role that shows off the star quality of the main actor but it’s just so dull that you end up not even giving a shit if he solves the main mystery.
Hell, that main mystery itself is barely worth a damn, it’s not so much solved as it is revealed to Marlowe in a moment that would be shocking if it made any sort of sense. It’s not doing a clever take on the genre like Knives Out did, that would require it to be engaging and that just isn’t happening. It’s a very basic story that tries to surprise with a few big reveals but none of them are done well enough to actually elicit a gasp, mostly just a little nod of acknowledgment because a new character actor turned up to do what they do best and that’s it. What they do is only interesting because the actors involved are just that good, even with subpar material to work with they can still at least command some kind of attention.
Much as it would be easy to say Marlowe was just a plain old bad movie, it’s not. It’s got everything it needs to be something great but it doesn’t know how to use them, making for a dull experience that’s got the occasional glimmer of something special every now and then. It’s the kind of film that you watch because you’re a fan of either Jessica Lange or Alan Cumming and would just watch them read the phone book if it was available. There isn’t too much else beyond a lot of mediocrity. At least a bad film could’ve been fun, but bad would be ambitious and Marlowe isn’t going to go that far.
Movie Meister Reviews 