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R | 1h 54m | Crime, Thriller | March 15, 2024
Before Matt Damon gave us “The Bourne Identity” in 2002, there was Geena Davis in 1996 in “The Long Kiss Goodnight.” The former is usually credited with begetting the film subgenre of the amnesiac-assassin. Liam Neeson’s “Unknown” is another entry, and now Michael Keaton, directing himself in “Knox Goes Away,” gives us a killer who’s just been diagnosed with Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease; a rare, fast-track form of dementia.
Knox
John Knox (Keaton), clearly born too early to be nicknamed Johnny Knoxville, was nicknamed “Aristotle” in the Army (where he did deep-cover intelligence work) because he constantly read philosophy. Even after he quit the Army to do contract killer work for an unseen boss named Jericho, the nickname stuck.
Knox meets his partner-in-crime Thomas Muncie (Ray McKinnon) at a diner, where the now ubiquitous Tarantino-esque small-talk concerning life ensues, such as whether to consume news content via print or on mobile.
It looks like we’re in for a classic noir (cue sax doodlings and neon-lit nights) about an aging hitman, but then you start noticing the little things: Knox’s hands grab his wallet and keys off a table, pause, and a couple of seconds later, his hand returns to pick up the big wristwatch that was sitting there in plain sight with the rest of his stuff.
Knox tells Muncie he’s going away (hence “Knox Goes Away”) to take care of some personal business. He visits a doctor who gives him the prognosis that he’s got a couple of weeks, tops, during which his lucid periods will get shorter and shorter until his brain finally resets to no memories whatsoever.
Tying Up Loose Ends
Knox intends to get his affairs in order and cash out of his profession, but there’s one last job that needs to be taken care of. Fast on the heels of this job (in which Knox’s normally quick reflexes betray him), his long-estranged son Miles (James Marsden) appears on his doorstep with one bloody hand wrapped in a rag and in desperate need of dad’s help.
This is Knox’s one shot at redemption from the long weight of rapprochement and judgment from a son who cut off all contact after discovering what his dad did for a living. It’s maybe not too much of a spoiler (more of a teaser) to reveal this bit of diner-dialogue. Words to the effect of:
Miles (dismissively) “I’m not a killer.”
Dad: “Ummm … yeah, you kinda are? And a really good one too, it looks like.”
Meanwhile, on the other side of town, Detective Emily Ikari (Suzy Nakamura) is in the middle of investigating two separate homicide scenes: one involves a neo-Nazi pedophile, and the other’s a three-body problem with two naked people in a shower and a guy out in the hallway with a gun.
With his memory erasing like the photographs in “Back to the Future,” Knox races against time, and there’s no margin for error. But as the plot thickens, Knox’s condition worsens, and the viewer becomes convinced Knox is going to entirely lose his grip on reality, the movie keeps a few aces up its sleeve.
Overall
Michael Keaton delivers a fine, controlled performance, and joins the short list of actors such as Robert Redford, Clint Eastwood, Sean Penn, and Mel Gibson who shine when they finally sit in the director’s chair.
While “Knox Goes Away” is a crime drama, the narrative doesn’t contain the usual nail-baiting thrill one normally expects from the genre. However, the story and Keaton’s quietly intense performance will definitely keep you hooked throughout. Despite the slow pace, there’s truly never a dull moment.
“Knox Goes Away” is an oddly touching, meditative film about fathers, sons, wives, daughters, the honor of thieves, and paid-for companionship—all of which is darkly humorous.
The acting is all-around excellent—starring, as it does, Al Pacino as Xavier, an avuncular crook and longtime friend of Knox. James Marsden, long one of cinema’s pretty boys in the same boat with Jared Leto, Chris Pine, and Cillian Murphy, puts the acting chops on display that have ensured him career longevity.
Marcia Gay Harden as Knox’s ex-wife touchingly shows how a woman, having discovered her husband’s dark side, still loves him, and Joanna Kulig as Annie, Knox’s “Thursday date” Polish escort, delivers an impactful performance.
“Knox Goes Away” is a character-driven take on the amnesia-assassin tale, propelled by Michael Keaton’s brilliant performance and direction. It’s the kind of film—like all the good ones—where you’ll be drawn to watch it multiple times, because deep down, there’s a further grain of truth to be revealed with each viewing.
Ultimately
This publication would be remiss if it didn’t attempt to spell out the fact that many Hollywood films are currently making criminals sympathetic. “Knox Goes Away” differs from “The Bourne Identity” in that Jason Bourne was a CIA black ops agent and as such, a patriot undertaking a dangerous mission. John Knox is a hitman for hire who kills with no morally stated reason.
For all we know, Knox is a serial killer who’s smart enough to have figured out a way to get paid for something he enjoys. He’s got two PhD’s, after all. It’s more likely the case that his military skills at some point led him to the temptation of an easy morally wrong choice usurping a morally hard right choice—which then snowballed down the road originally paved with good intentions. Given how abysmally the American government takes care of its veterans, the choice to use a military acquired skill-set for money, post-service, presents itself more often than the public would care to contemplate.
But the state of Knox’s soul needed to be clearer. If he’s just a cold-blooded killer for whom we’re encouraged to have sympathy due to witnessing his family problems and deteriorating heath—what does that really do for us? We now live in a morally ambiguous world where criminals are heroes and cops are the bad guys.
It’s a good idea to keep the moral vagueness in this type of storytelling in mind, because the concepts movies are capable of subtly planting in our systems can, over time, erase part of our souls—much like a slower-moving, moral version of Creutzfeldt-Jakob.
“Knox Goes Away” is currently available for streaming on Amazon Prime.
‘Knox Goes Away’
Director: Michael Keaton
Starring: Michael Keaton, James Marsden, Al Pacino, Ray McKinnon, Suzy Nakamura, Marcia Gay Harden, Joanna Kulig
MPAA Rating: R
Running Time: 1 hour, 54 minutes
Release Date: March 15, 2024
Rating: 4 stars out of 5
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