Movie review «Absolution»

On June 19, cinemas began showing the crime thriller «Absolution», starring Liam Neeson, one of the «latest action heroes» to appear in the to end. Even before the screening, it seemed that — was a typical representative of the veteran actor’s late filmography, not unlike the upcoming «The Naked Gun», in which he emerge in the form of ̶s̶c̶h̶o̶l̶l̶g̶i̶r̶l̶ Frank Drebin Jr. However, there are certain nuances here, and we will discuss them in the review below.

Pluses:

a down-to-earth human drama in a wrapper «a typical Neeson movie»; the actor feels great in the frame without weapons and outside of action scenes; the tragic figure of the protagonist really resonates;

Minuses:

The movie is not for you if you were expecting a standard action movie with Liam Neeson; the slow pace and some overlongness will make some viewers bored; the available action looks weak;

6.5/10

Rating
ITC.ua

«Absolution»

Genre crime thriller, action movie
Director Hans Petter Muland
Starring Liam Neeson, Ron Perlman, Yolonda Ross, Frankie Shaw, Daniel Deamer, Terrence Pulliam, Omar Gonim, Tom Kemp, Ryan Homchik, Deanna Tarraza, Josh Dreher, Bruce Sosia, William Xifaras (II), Javier Molina, Matthew Dela
Premiere movie theaters
Year of release 2025
Website IMDb

A former boxer and now an elderly gangster from Boston who has been working for local crime boss Charlie Conner for 30 years begins to notice an alarming forgetfulness. It gets to the point where the man can’t remember where his home is. After a visit to the doctor, he learns about a terrible diagnosis — an advanced form of chronic traumatic encephalopathy. This means that he has very little time left before he will not be able to take care of himself.

After such stunning news, the gangster concludes that perhaps now is the right time to rethink his priorities. So he allows himself to start a relationship with a woman, and most importantly — without delay, dials the number of his estranged daughter, with whom he had hardly communicated before. The time has come for the atonement indicated in the title.

Stories about old people suffering from a neurodegenerative disease have become more frequent — just in April in a detective thriller «Sleeping Dogs» Russell Crowe’s character, who, like the local pensioner, was a big drinker, faced a disappointing diagnosis. Dementia also befell the hired killer played by Michael Keaton in «Knox Goes Away» (2023). And for Neeson himself, this role is not new because a few years ago he played it in Martin Campbell’s «Flashback» (2022). It was a typical, unremarkable, autopilot and experience-driven retirement thriller-action movie that few people will remember today.

«Absolution» seems to be from the same opera, but not quite: in the film by Norwegian director Hans Petter Muland, who has already worked with Neeson in «Cold Pursuit» (2019), they are clearly in no hurry to hand Liam a gun. On the contrary, in terms of genre, the viewer is presented not so much with a thriller (or even an action movie) as with a crime drama about a lonely old man who is trying to somehow correct the mistakes of the past. Neeson’s trademark severity and, at the same time, noticeable vulnerability, which can be read in a tired look, are more appropriate here than ever. But the mustache and sideburns seem to be something new.

As strange as this comparison may sound, the local gangster has something in common with… Rocky Balboa. The difference is that the boxer played by Sly began his thorny journey by working for a small-time mafia, and only then was able to break out into big-time sports. Neeson’s character is exactly the opposite — he used to fight in the ring, as we are briefly informed in the course of the story, and now he is running errands for the tough-faced crime boss Ron Perlman.

In addition, we have a plot branch where the old man tries to establish a relationship with an adult child: in Balboa it was a son, played by Milo Ventimiglia in the sixth installment, here our sufferer has a daughter. In one of the scenes, he undertakes to give a couple of boxing tips to his black grandson, which seems to refer to «Creed», the other — he will find himself in a factory among large fish carcasses, while Rocky is beating up cattle carcasses with all his might.

However, we have a crime drama here, not a sports drama, so at some point the protagonist, having brushed away his tears and overcome his doubts, will have to take up arms. The few crumbs that can hardly be called action scenes look clumsy. Just like the fact that a 72-year-old alcoholic old man (Liam Neeson turned 73 on June 7, with which we congratulate him) knocks out every bull he meets with a single punch.

The bandit’s strange, surrealistic dreams, which involve a lot of water and his father, are also useless. These episodes are intended to add drama, but they are very much out of place in the narrative and seem trivialized.

«Absolution» has average reviews from critics and rather low ratings from viewers on IMDb — only 5.2 points. In this context, Mulaney’s film looks somewhat underrated. This result is primarily since the film did not meet the audience’s expectations, which were mainly because we were expecting another B movie.

Instead, we got a slow, sometimes clumsy, but in every sense human crime drama. A medium-sized, confident in its ambitions, which stands out at least a little bit from the monotonous thriller-action mixes of the Neeson type. Over the past five years, wexceptlast year’s «In the Land of Saints & Sinners», this film received the highest percentage of positive reviews from reviewers, and this is a telling indicator.

«Absolution» should be avoided by those who were hoping for something action-packed or at least thrilling. It’s a quiet, calm and infinitely sad movie, more suitable for a mature audience. I wonder what Liam Neeson will do in the upcoming «The Naked Gun» in contrast to the gloom and doom here.

Conclusion:

Liam Neeson has long since accustomed us to monotony, but «Absolution» seems to be an unpretentious genre entertainment only in form. In terms of content, the authors rely more on drama. So for the first time in a long time, Neeson's character is able to claim a sincere audience response. But whether this is enough to consider the movie successful is an open question.