
Remember, Michael Keaton, you’re meeting well with age.
When you have diner segments that like to follow in the tradition of “Pulp Fiction,” you also like for it to be different. For instance, the main protagonist John Knox asks for a coffee, and the waitress corrects him that he already has one right in front of him. It’s an early sign of him developing a form of dementia, known as Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD).
When you have Michael Keaton directing “Knox Goes Away” and starring as Knox, you gotta admire that the iconic actor (who will return as Beetlejuice soon enough) is meeting well with age. The title can either mean his memory will go away or he’ll be going away. Or maybe even both. I can assume it’s both. It has to be both.
As a modern day noir film, you have a leading man with convictions. And while the screenplay (written by Gregory Poirier) and some of the supporting actors aren’t as memorable as Keaton is, there are still elements inside “it “Knox Goes Away” worth seeing.
This Knox is a contact killer who struggles to process his serious condition, even though he won’t remember his doctor informing him about it. During a hit, his disease causes him to accidentally shoot and kill his partner (Ray McKinnon), and he has to make the whole scene look like a suicide. The main detectives (Suzy Nakamura and John Hoogenakke) are trying to make sense out of it.
Next, he reunites with estranged son Miles (James Marsden), who comes to his house with a bloody hand covered in a rag and all desperate, because he kills a man who raped his teenage daughter Kaylee (Morgan Bastin). He asks his dad to help take care of the aftermath. This could be a chance for the old man to redeem himself before his time and memory are up.
Early in that scene, John asks Miles if he knows him, and he says he’s his son. At the time, I thought there would be a predictable plot twist in which Miles wasn’t really his son, but I got enough proof that he is. However, there is a plot twist I wasn’t counting on, and since I liked the movie, I won’t give anything away.
Among the supporting actors in the movie, there’s Al Pacino as John’s old mentor Xavier Crane, whom he asks to help him clear up his son’s crimes before his memory depletes; Maria Gay Harden plays his ex-wife, who holds a gun at him when he comes into her home; and Joanna Kulig plays his sex worker, who comes on Thursdays and asks him if she’s too early. He forgets she’s in his schedule, thanks to his illness. As talented as these three actors are, their characters don’t leave much to the imagination. In fact, they’re all forgettable at best.
Now, Marsden, here. He does a good job at playing a father who is willing to protect his daughter, even if he has to ask his old man for help, and even when a former decision starts to get to him. Again, no spoiler alerts. And I liked Nakamura as one of the detectives, especially when she handles the case with timing and persistence.
But mostly, it’s Keaton who carries “Knox Goes Away.” From “Batman” to “Beetlejuice” to “Birdman” to Spotlight,” and the list goes on and on, he is an actor who delivers in any generation. Now, that he’s in his early 70s, he has the voice and methods to get into character, especially since Knox develops dementia. And as a director, he provides some style here. Remember his name.
Categories: Thriller

