Michael Keaton’s ‘Knox Goes Away’ paints a fresh coat of intrigue on the hitman genre
Streaming on Max, it’s a throwback thriller with just enough action and drama.
John Knox isn’t well. How bad is it? Well, when a neurologist holds up a picture of a car, Knox is literally stumped by it. It’s not the easiest news for a former professor and brainiac to hear, especially when his profession happens to be killing people.
That’s the straight up, no rocks description of Knox Goes Away, a movie that throws a fresh spin on a popular genre. Plenty of films have spun a take on the hitman setup, and most have provided an interesting angle on the kettle corn genre that never ceases to include a plot thread about a job going wrong. For Knox, the latest hit gets extra messy when his fast-acting dementia starts to interfere with his reality. When you’re going into a stranger’s house to whack them and suddenly start blacking out, problems arise.
Played by Michael Keaton with a moderate dose of morose irritation and a slight dry sense of humor, Knox’s deteriorating condition is further complicated by the arrival of his estranged son, who he doesn’t even recognize at first. Evan (a good James Marsden) got himself into a jam, and needs old dad’s help. The guy he hasn’t spoken to in years and only comes knocking out of desperation.
One of the things I loved about Knox Goes Away is the patience that the story moves along at, even though the film wastes zero type moving its plot from one point to the next. Effort becomes invisible when you have a good team. Keaton stepped behind the camera for this one, along with producing and starring. He slips into a dying man’s skin like he already lived there for a few years.
Keaton gets better with age, and so do his choices. Later this year, he reprises one of his most famous roles with Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. Sure, it took decades and its scent gives off a “very good or pretty bad” vibe, but the world can always use a good comedy that bridges several generations. He goes from that to Knox like a change of clothes, and it shows early on when the main character’s dilemma picks up speed.
Quietly, the film is an ode to the ultimate goal of every father: doing what’s necessary won’t happen all the time, but it needs to happen when time is of the essence. When the shit hits the fan, a dad has to be there for his son--even one who ghosted you after telling him about your true profession. Can you blame Evan? Even for a man with “10,000 books,” that’s cold work, John.
The cast is stuffed with great actors, from Ray McKinnon to Marcia Gay Harden to the wonderful Al Pacino. The latter pops up halfway into the movie, and lights it up. Like the star, they all seem like a fixture in the life of their character. It all just flows easy for the entire near two-hour runtime.
Outside of his stellar acting work, Keaton shows a sly minimalist touch in the director’s chair. It’s got some Clint Eastwood and Mel Gibson flavors going inside, and the combination serves the bittersweetness of the film’s central core: a man slowly losing his mind while trying to save his son from a life behind bars. Again, a father has to do what a father must do.
In many ways, from the music to the easygoing pacing, Knox Goes Away felt like a throwback to a different era of filmmaking. It’s not that these kinds of movies aren’t around anymore; they just are not as desirable to Hollywood executives as they used to be, so the frequency is way down. I’d like more of this, along with prankster shit with a heart of gold like Deadpool and Wolverine. They can exist in a world with Pig, Oppenheimer, Barbie, End of Watch, and Chef.
In the most unlikely of ways, Knox Goes Away played out like a comfort film for this 1980s baby.
Thanks for reading, and find a good film to quiet the noise in your head.