When he was a young boy ‘Thug’ (Liam Neeson) was told by his father to go beat up his neighbourhood bully. He did, and since then, as his name suggests, he never stopped. Now an aging ex-boxer, Thug has been taking hits to the head since the age of 6 or 7. Big surprise that this kind of thing takes a toll on your brain…
Now, in his twilight years, for the last 30 years, Thug has been working as muscle for local Boston gangster Charlie Conner (Ron Perlman), making collections, transporting illicit goods and breaking in the new blood like Charlie‘s wannabe gangster son, Kyle (Daniel Diemer). But lately, Thug has been having lapses of memory, forgetting things, names, dates, addresses and phone numbers. Even his own. Tragically, all those decades of abuse to his brain have given him a particularly advanced case of CTE (Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy).
With only a matter of months left before he’ll be unable to care for himself, Thug begins to question a lifetime of bad decisions; the family he abandoned, the people he hurt and all the time he wasted. Seeking out his estranged daughter, Daisy (Frankie Shaw), Thug at least wants to bond with his grandson, Dre (Terrence Pulliam) while he still can. But with continued memory problems, his alcoholism and both feet firmly planted in the criminal underworld, his past life isn’t ready to let him go.
Celebrated Norwegian director Hans Petter Moland teamed up with writer Tony Gayton for this introspective gangster flick. For the longest time, those with CTE were simply referred to as punchy or punch-drunk. Here, Moland and Gayton deliver a much more modern take on this neurological disorder with everyone’s favourite ass-kicking grandpa, Liam Neeson.
Neeson had something of a renaissance to his already impressive career with 2008’s surprise hit Taken. Now a legitimate action star in his mid-50s, Neeson has had many successes with only his more recent films truly showing his advanced years. Like other actors, he has partnered with filmmakers and together made decent work in that time. For Absolution, Neeson reunites with Moland after their black comedy Cold Pursuit (2019).
The thing is, Cold Pursuit (based on Moland‘s 2014 film, Order of Disappearance) was quite different to the general Liam Neeson action fair. It had action moments but it was also a look into the grief a father goes through upon losing his son and the all-consuming rage which builds from that. It also had some laughs. Again, it was a very different type of flick. Absolution is equally unconventional for where it falls amongst Neeson‘s other recent filmography.
Perhaps this will even be to the chagrin of some viewers expecting non-stop car chases, fight scenes and gun battles. Absolution is a much slower paced film in comparison and is one which gives Neeson a chance to act again. Much more than he was allowed to in Taken 3 anyway!
Absolution is at its best during these points; we see a broken man existing in this damned life he has created for himself. His daughter hates him, but why wouldn’t she hate this man who abandoned her? His colleagues have little respect for him but what respect does he deserve? He’s literally just an alcoholic ‘Thug‘?
Absolution does dip its toes into the action genre now and then, where like an aging boxer, it has its hits and its misses. Having been an amateur boxer in his teens, Liam Neeson even in his 70s still looks like he knows how to throw a punch. At other times, he moves like a man of his age and the film editing does most of the heavy work.
But still, Neeson is here for this clumsy story of redemption, even if the story could be better. There are a few too many scenes that we feel like we’ve seen a million times before. Busting up underground brothels is already a tired cliché in Liam Neeson‘s action movies, let alone the genre as a whole!
Also, it’s hard to fully get behind Thug as a character on a journey of forgiveness when he seems so forced forward into it. Without the actions of other characters pushing him, there wouldn’t be much motivation for a change within him at all. Hans Petter Moland creates some heartbreaking and effective moments as Thug slips further into his brain damage, but we mostly know where the story will wind up ahead of time.
Truly a shame, as with a more refined script this could have been to Liam Neeson what Gran Torino (2008) was to Clint Eastwood. But still, Absolution is a much more intriguing gangster film than it could have been. Thanks primarily to Neeson’s talent as an actor and Moland’s handling of the material, proving there’s still some spark in this old fighter yet.
Absolution will be available for streaming on Prime Video from December 3.