MARLOWE (2022)

Not a good film, and not Raymond Chandler

This is a really bad film which gives the impression of being based on the work of Raymond Chandler because it uses the character Philip Marlowe, detective. But otherwise it has nothing to do with Chandler, and is based on a novel by John Banville, writing under the name of Benjamin Black, entitled THE BLACK-EYED BLONDE. The story is bad, the script is bad, the direction is bad, the cinematography is terrible, and some of the actors are very bad. What is good is the art direction. An excellent job of has been done of creating sets which truly evoke late 1930s Los Angeles. The best performance in the film is by Colm Meaney as a policeman named Bernie. He is entirely authentic for period and type. Liam Neeson is miscast as Philip Marlowe. He seems to have had little direction and even less motivation. He ambles through the film with insufficient dialogue of his own. People talk around him. But he has little opportunity to become anyone, and is just a cipher moved from scene to scene in a terrible script. The cinematography is indescribably awful, as many scenes are so dark it is nearly impossible to see the actors. Someone thought making everything dark might make the film mysterious and atmospheric: big mistake! The painful truth is that the film has no atmosphere whatever, despite the excellent sets and props. Neil Jordan directed this flop, and co-wrote the script. Neil, pull yourself together, man! OK, so I got the line about Marlowe having served in the Irish Rifles during the First World War. You got your Irish plug in. Yes you were born in Sligo. The sound fails sometimes in the film, not helped by Liam's habit of speaking too softly. Diane Kruger and Jessica Lange both seemed uncomfortable in their roles. Danny Huston was effective as an arrogant villain, and he pulled that off. The story concerns a complex array of criminals, with drugs and murder and sadism thrown in according to some imagined formula which simply did not work. So a guy faked his death. So a gal wants him found. So several baddies want what he has, whatever it is. Liam beats up a couple of guys. He gets beat up. Come on. Show some originality. Raymond Chandler could do all this and make it work. But this team could not.

The iconic titular character of "Marlowe" epitomises noir, but in resurrecting him veteran director / co-writer (with William Monahan) Neil Jordan waters the noir style down to nothing, leaving only a dull, even-paced mystery that fails to engage. Liam Neeson's the aforementioned '30s LA gum-shoe here, hired by wealthy 'femme fatale' Diane Kruger (daughter of 'femme fatale' Jessica Lange (good)) to find presumed dead lover François Arnaud who's wrapped in some kinda drug-running plot with the likes of Danny Huston & Alan Cumming, under the noses of cops like Joe Green & Colm Meaney. It's bland, plodding fare, and is just not noir. Poor.