{"id":8014,"date":"2024-11-02T20:01:39","date_gmt":"2024-11-03T00:01:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/?p=8014"},"modified":"2024-11-11T23:38:22","modified_gmt":"2024-11-12T04:38:22","slug":"absolution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/2024\/11\/02\/absolution\/","title":{"rendered":"Absolution"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Absolution<\/strong> (2024)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Samuel Goldwyn\/Action-Thriller\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 112 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (violence, language throughout, some sexual content\/nudity, drug use)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Hans Petter Moland\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Tony Gayton\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Kaspar Kaae\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Philip Ogaard\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: November 1, 2024 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Liam Neeson, Yolonda Ross, Frankie Shaw, Daniel Diemer, Ron Perlman, Javier Molina, Terrence Pulliam, Deanna Tarraza, Ryan Homchick, Tom Kemp, Josh Drennen.<\/p>\n

Rating<\/strong>: * \u00bd<\/p>\n

\u00a0There is no forgiving a movie as lame as Absolution<\/strong>, the latest actioner starring this generation\u2019s answer to Charles Bronson, Liam Neeson. The 72YO actor has noticeably slowed down in the 15 years since his transformation into action hero in the first Taken film. This time, he just looks bored as a low-level criminal at the end of his illustrious career. Funny, I felt the same as I watched Liam lumber through this exercise in familiarity.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The plot of Absolution<\/strong> plays like a Liam\u2019s greatest hits collection with a scenario right out of Memory. His unnamed character, listed as \u201cThug\u201d in the end credits, has been somewhat forgetful lately. He can\u2019t even remember the name of his boss Charlie (Perlman, Hellboy). His doctor informs him he\u2019s suffering from a neurodegenerative disease called CTE, the result of years of taking blows to the head as a boxer. It\u2019s fairly advanced and he has maybe two years before he can no longer take care of himself.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Realizing his predicament, he attempts to reconnect with his two grown children who he ran out on years ago. His son is a non-starter; that ship has sailed off into the horizon. His daughter Daisy (Shaw, SMILF) at least takes the time to tell her estranged dad to f*** off. Nonetheless, Thug makes an effort to get to know his grandson Dre (Pulliam, Single Drunk Female). In addition, he starts a relationship with a woman (Ross, The Chi) he meets in a bar after knocking out her abusive boyfriend. The one noticeable thing they have in common is the absence of a proper name; she\u2019s referred to as \u201cWoman\u201d in the end credits.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Thug does mainly grunt work for his boss. He accompanies his dumb ass son (Diemer, The Midnight Club) on routine jobs while he learns the business. It\u2019s during one of these jobs that he becomes aware of a sex trafficking ring. He takes a special interest in one of the girls (Tarraza, Letters to Santa). As if he doesn\u2019t already have enough on his plate, it looks like somebody\u2019s out to get him. He thwarts an attempt on his life, taking down the shooter with surprising ease. Now he has to figure out who\u2019s behind it.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Absolution<\/strong> was a last-minute addition to the schedule at my multiplex of choice. It was the first I heard of it. I figured it would be a decent matinee flick. It\u2019s not. It\u2019s a real bore. It takes nearly an hour for something to happen. If I lived by Brotman\u2019s Law, I\u2019d have been long gone by this time. It\u2019s not that I don\u2019t get or appreciate what director Hans Petter Moland is going for here. He\u2019s the guy behind the Norwegian thriller In Order of Disappearance and its American remake Cold Pursuit (also starring Liam). He\u2019s looking to turn Absolution<\/strong> into a character study dealing with a tired, lonely, depressed criminal type forced to reexamine his life choices. This would be fine if the film was actually interesting which it is not. It barely comes to life during the few quick bursts of action.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Neeson is a great actor. When I compare him to Bronson, it\u2019s a compliment. He\u2019s equally capable of turning in fine dramatic performances in non-action movies. He might even be funny; we\u2019ll have to wait until next year\u2019s Naked Gun reboot to find out. He doesn\u2019t give a performance in Absolution<\/strong>. He just sleepwalks through a role he\u2019s played more than once. He doesn\u2019t even try for laughs with witty one-liners or looks of bemusement. He\u2019s completely on autopilot here. I realize the same could be said of Bronson\u2019s later performances, but his tough guy screen persona always managed to show. All I see in Absolution<\/strong> is a tired old man. Sorry, Liam. I have to call it like I see it.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Some will argue that Absolution<\/strong> has a distinctly European flavor. I say BS! It\u2019s slow and boring. The pacing is deathly. At 112 minutes, it\u2019s just too damn long. The half-assed screenplay by Tony Gayton (Faster) is unfocused and all over the place. The scenes where Thug visits with his long-dead father on a boat in the sea add nothing to the proceedings. In fact, I don\u2019t even know why Moland saw fit to include them. The drab (some might say moody) cinematography by Philip Ogaard just makes Absolution<\/strong> even more of a slog.<\/p>\n

\u00a0I\u2019m reaching the point where I think Liam ought to hang it up as an action hero, but he\u2019s far from it going by his upcoming films listed on IMDb (e.g. Run All Night 2). On the other hand, I never gave up on Bronson even after Death Wish V. I\u2019ll still see his action films. I certainly hope they\u2019ll be better than Absolution<\/strong>. To all involved, say four Hail Marys and four Our Fathers as an act of penance. Now go in peace.\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Absolution (2024)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Samuel Goldwyn\/Action-Thriller\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 112 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (violence, language throughout, some sexual content\/nudity, drug use)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Hans Petter Moland\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Tony Gayton\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Kaspar Kaae\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Philip Ogaard\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: November 1, 2024 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Liam Neeson, Yolonda Ross, Frankie Shaw, Daniel Diemer, Ron Perlman, Javier Molina, Terrence Pulliam, Deanna Tarraza, Ryan Homchick, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8021,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8014","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-action-adventure"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Absolution-PIC.jpg?fit=620%2C348&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8014","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8014"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8014\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8022,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8014\/revisions\/8022"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8021"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8014"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8014"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8014"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}