There are few actors as consistent and reliable as Michael Keaton, so it’s almost inconceivable that in his early 70s, the man has only directed two movies: this week’s Knox Goes Away, which his follow-up to 2008’s The Merry Gentleman, both of which he also starred in. Both films are pretty dark in their subject matter, and both are about professional killers going through a life-altering crises. This time around, Keaton’s character, John “Aristotle” Knox, is a contract killer who seems to only kill genuinely bad people for an unseen handler. He brushes off his partner (Ray McKinnon) to secretly visit an out-of-town doctor about his slipping memory and is diagnosed with a rare condition known as Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, in which dementia occurs rapidly, much faster and more ruthlessly than Alzheimer’s, giving Knox only a few weeks before his mind is gone for good.
Knox returns to carry out one last job before disappearing forever to live out the last days of his life. But before that, he wants to liquidate his assets and distribute them to the three most important people in his life, only one of whom still talks to him. But when the last contract ends up with a couple extra bodies (including that of his partner), Knox goes into his version of panic mode, staging the crime scene to be deliberately confusing and hopefully giving himself enough time to wrap up his affairs. One of the few people in his life who likes him is Annie, a Polish set worker (Joanna Kulig) he meets weekly who suspects something is up and begins to poke around his apartment looking for clues as to what’s on Knox’s mind.
Without warning one night, his estranged, grown son Miles (James Marsden) arrives at his door covered in blood with a cut hand, saying he’s just stabbed a man who got his teen daughter pregnant. Understanding the son’s act of rage, Knox agrees to help him cover up the crime, but Knox has to write down everything he plans to do so he doesn’t forget, and having a list like that doesn’t sit well with him. Now the police (led by Det. Emily Ikari, played by the great Suzy Nakamura) are investigating two crimes, seemingly unrelated, both being manipulated by Knox.
Other characters floating around the periphery of the story include his ex-wife (Marcia Gay Harden), whose home he goes into thinking he still lives there; and his mentor, a thief named Xavier Crane (Al Pacino), who is keeping tabs on his final days just to make sure his friend doesn’t screw anything up. The screenplay by Gregory Poirie is actually fairly smart, if not especially original. Knox’s dementia goes in and out for periods that are convenient to the screenplay, which never seems believable. That's not to say Keaton isn’t great in the film; he absolutely is. But he’s put through paces that seem unnecessarily complicated, especially the way he deals with the son’s crime.
I didn’t mind the film’s slower pacing, as it gives us time to get to know a little bit more about this man who chose killing over his own family. He may have some regrets, but you never get the sense he would do anything differently if given the chance. The film throws a couple of curveballs at us from time to time, but nothing too radical or suspenseful. There are some nice noir-ish elements as well that serve the story well, but again, nothing that raises the quality of the film to any noticeable degree. Knox Goes Away is an aggressively average movie that is elevated by its performances, especially Keaton, who digs deep even where the ground is shallow.
The film is now playing in theaters.
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