Absolution Parent Guide

Organized crime is no occupation for an old man, but one thug (unnamed and played by Liam Neeson) hasn’t got the message. Despite his increasing memory problems, he gets up and gets on with the racketeering, drinking, and petty crime he’s been doing for years.

It all feels routine but a recent visit to his doctor has changed his perspective. Apparently, his memory problems are the result of a lifetime of concussions and are one of the symptoms of chronic traumatic encephalopathy, which he will have until he dies. There’s no treatment, no medication. He realizes, too late, that his life is empty. He wants to try and mend his relationship with his daughter, Daisy (Frankie Shaw), but it doesn’t look like he’s going to have time…

The studio PR people have labeled Absolution as a crime thriller, but the crimes we get are pretty mundane. Mostly they seem to involve collecting illicit payments and organizing narcotics smuggling. Sitting through the movie, it helps to remember that at 72, Liam Neeson is an old man. You can’t expect him to be slugging his way through big fight scenes anymore. You also can’t build a film around him as an action star – those days are gone.

The larger issue is that the movie has nowhere to go. The script doesn’t dig into our nameless protagonist’s past, and it’s clear that he doesn’t have much in the way of a future, so all we’ve got is an increasingly confused and largely directionless present. His memory loss never feels that significant, because we don’t know anything about the memories, so the only thing left to drive the plot are the tangential criminal exploits he’s still trying to putter through. It makes for a slow movie, and one without much grabbing power.

Despite the general dullness coating just about everything, the screenwriters still managed to pack 78 f-bombs into the runtime, along with graphic depictions of sex and human trafficking, violence, and drug use. It’s not going to be picking up a Kid’s Choice Award, is what I’m trying to tell you. Unfortunately, I don’t think Absolution will be anyone’s choice. It’s time to stop trying to make action movies with septuagenarians. I’m not saying you should take Liam Neeson out behind the barn like Old Yeller, but maybe a move towards more dramatic and less kinetic roles is in order. There are no thrills left in these geriatric action thrillers.