They don't make noirs like they used to, or rather, they hardly do at all, and what a shame that is. Antique cars roaring on neon-soaked roads wet with rain, elaborate costumes either in dull browns and greys or bright primaries, and everyone chain-smoking between sips of hard liquor. I mean boy howdy is there a lot of smoking, they even got star and ex-smoker Liam Neeson puffing in something like half his scenes; it's the kind where you feel the urge to inhale that sweet nicotine, if only to feel like a background extra.
But I digress and gosh I hope I don't start smoking.
"Marlowe" is of course an adaptation of the same-named literary private detective, originally by author Raymond Chandler, though I would be lying if I said I have ever read any of his work. Or any of the novels about Marlowe but by other others since his passing, but whatever, the plot is hardly the point of a picture like this. It's about the atmosphere, the tone and about seeing Liam Neeson finally get a role that is worthy of an actor of his caliber.
Oh sure, I enjoyed his films like "Honest Thief" about as much as the next fan of aging action heroes, but they hardly require much of him- he could play a potted plant and still command the screen.
Not that he has much to actually do here, but the script forces him to try to make sense of the nonsensical, which is a reprieve from his usual "dad with a gun" thing of late.
The actual plot is dense for no reason other to justify its place in the mystery/thriller genre, and as such any attempts to actually describe it would be useless: do any reader actually care what this is about? Don't they have the novels as reference? What about earlier Marlowe films? Sure this is the film version of a specific book, The Black-Eyed Blonde by Benjamin Black, but I didn't have the foggiest idea about the narrative except what the trailers try to explain. Marlowe is hired by Clare (Diane Kruger), daughter of former actress Dorothy (Jessica Lange) and a deceased oil mogul, to find her ex-lover Nico. The police say he's dead but she thinks otherwise, but why? Why does her mom care so much? Why was he found outside the club ran by Floyd Hanson (Danny Huston), and why is Lou Hendricks (Alan Cumming) looking for him as well?
So many questions, all asked to complicate things so that we the audience have to guess what's going to happen next. Sure it seems unnecessary but hey, I kept guessing incorrectly so I suppose that's something.
This leaves me in a bit of a conundrum: how many stars should I give it? Should I care that director Neil Jordan and writer William Monahan fail to do anything new with the genre? Does it matter that the dialogue sounds like a parody of actual noirs of the 40's? How about how the entire thing, the entire thing could have probably been solved had certain characters talked to each other instead of hiding secrets? I suppose not. It's not the greatest anything, but it's got Liam Neeson and a lot of other terrific talent all stealing the scenery from each other so that they can chew it. And I could watch them chew all day long.
