'Marlowe' movie review: The uninspiring attempt at reinventing Marlowe

Updated On: 24 February, 2023 04:16 PM IST | Mumbai | Johnson Thomas

Raymond Chandler’s eponymous L.A. detective has been played quite memorably by Humphrey Bogart, Dick Powell, James Garner, and Elliott Gould in their heyday before this. Compared to them, a present-day Liam Neeson feels too weighed down and deadbeat

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Marlowe still

Film: Marlowe
Cast: Liam Neeson, Diane Kruger, Jessica Lange, Danny Huston, Alan Cumming, Ian Hart, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Daniela Melchior
Director: Neil Jordan
Rating: 2.5/5
Runtime: 109 min

Liam Neeson at 70, re-teams with his “Michael Collins” director Neil Jordan, to play the title role in “Marlowe.” This film has not been adapted from a Raymond Chandler book but “The Black-Eyed Blonde,” published in 2014, authored by Irish novelist John Banville - which was apparently sanctioned by Chandler’s estate.

The film is set in Bay City, L.A., in 1939, and opens with a beautiful shot of palm trees against the sun before giving us a glimpse of Philip Marlowe getting himself out of bed. Just when poor business and loneliness have taken their toll on private detective Philip Marlowe, arrives a beautiful blonde, Clare Cavendish (Diane Kruger), hires him to find her young, movie-industry-affiliated boyfriend. There are many more complications to the story that also involves Clare’s former actress mother (Jessica Lange) who has an intense interest in her daughter’s personal life and a “ambassador” involved in a film studio. Add to that Huston’s sleazy nightclub owner, a frightened sister, an aging starlet, a couple of cop friends of Marlowe’s, a corrupt bigwig played by Alan Cumming, and a savvy chauffeur (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje) - sufficient components for a percolating plot.

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