★ 7 / 10
Regardless of what a lot of people claim
Dark Jedi
Regardless of what a lot of people claim, this is a quite good old-fashioned murder mystery and private investigator story. It is quite well done in the style…
Regardless of what a lot of people claim, this is a quite good old-fashioned murder mystery and private investigator story. It is quite well done in the style one would expect when implementing a story where the main character is the famous Philip Marlowe.
This kind of story should not be filled with insane action, psychopathic outbursts or any other of the other stuff that Hollywood (as well as probably the younger audience) seems to think that every movie needs.
Is it slow as many people say. Sure if you compare with John Wick it is slow. For a Philip Marlowe movie it is just right.
When watching this movie I was really quite happy that this was not another movie (and character) that Hollywood felt they had to “modernize” like the remake abominations where Hercule Poirot runs on top of train cars and chases murderers waving guns.
It is a good mystery story. It is a good implementation. Liam Neeson, whom I generally like as an actor, is quite a good fit for the role of Philip Marlowe. Overall I quite enjoyed this movie.
The fact that the so called “critics” at Woke (Rotten) Tomatoes gave this movie 25% Rotten of course destroyed any credibility these woke hacks might have had left. If I move does not project the right agenda it is rotten by their standards, or rather lack thereof.
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★ 6 / 10
I have watched a few movies based on
Peter McGinn
I have watched a few movies based on Raymond Chandler’s Philip Marlowe, and I can’t say that any of them dazzled me, even though they were usually played by…
I have watched a few movies based on Raymond Chandler’s Philip Marlowe, and I can’t say that any of them dazzled me, even though they were usually played by actors I liked. This version struck me the same way. I really like Liam Neeson and feel that he has elevated a few B quality movies I have seen him in. But either he couldn’t or wasn’t allowed to work similar magic here.
The characters don’t mumble exactly, but the overall effect to me is that they might as well have been. The dialogue isn’t exactly electric and they seem to deliver them rather matter of factly. When Marlow beats up a few guys and says, “I am getting too old for this,” it comes out sounding like the tired cliche it is rather than a heartfelt observation by a jaded private eye.
So I can’t help but label this as a missed opportunity; I mean, it’s Liam Neeson for goodness sake. Write the man some better lines and action sequences.
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★ 3 / 10
Not good film, and not Raymond Chandler
robert-temple-1
MARLOWE (2022) Not a good film, and not Raymond Chandler This is a really bad film which gives the impression of being based on the work of Raymond Chandler…
MARLOWE (2022)
Not a good film, and not Raymond Chandler
This is a really bad film which gives the impression of being based on the work of Raymond Chandler because it uses the character Philip Marlowe, detective. But otherwise it has nothing to do with Chandler, and is based on a novel by John Banville, writing under the name of Benjamin Black, entitled THE BLACK-EYED BLONDE. The story is bad, the script is bad, the direction is bad, the cinematography is terrible, and some of the actors are very bad. What is good is the art direction. An excellent job of has been done of creating sets which truly evoke late 1930s Los Angeles. The best performance in the film is by Colm Meaney as a policeman named Bernie. He is entirely authentic for period and type. Liam Neeson is miscast as Philip Marlowe. He seems to have had little direction and even less motivation. He ambles through the film with insufficient dialogue of his own. People talk around him. But he has little opportunity to become anyone, and is just a cipher moved from scene to scene in a terrible script. The cinematography is indescribably awful, as many scenes are so dark it is nearly impossible to see the actors. Someone thought making everything dark might make the film mysterious and atmospheric: big mistake! The painful truth is that the film has no atmosphere whatever, despite the excellent sets and props. Neil Jordan directed this flop, and co-wrote the script. Neil, pull yourself together, man! OK, so I got the line about Marlowe having served in the Irish Rifles during the First World War. You got your Irish plug in. Yes you were born in Sligo. The sound fails sometimes in the film, not helped by Liam's habit of speaking too softly. Diane Kruger and Jessica Lange both seemed uncomfortable in their roles. Danny Huston was effective as an arrogant villain, and he pulled that off. The story concerns a complex array of criminals, with drugs and murder and sadism thrown in according to some imagined formula which simply did not work. So a guy faked his death. So a gal wants him found. So several baddies want what he has, whatever it is. Liam beats up a couple of guys. He gets beat up. Come on. Show some originality. Raymond Chandler could do all this and make it work. But this team could not.
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DECENT A ND NOT DESCENT