Marlowe (2023) * *

Directed by:  Neil Jordan

Starring:  Liam Neeson, Diane Kruger, Jessica Lange, Danny Huston, Colm Meaney, Alan Cumming, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Ian Hart

I can't help but see Liam Neeson on screen these days and not think he'll get the chance to use his particular set of skills at some point, even in a period piece featuring Neeson as legendary gumshoe Phillip Marlowe.  There are fight scenes, which almost don't seem to fit the atmosphere of the rest of the movie, in which Marlowe kicks ass and takes names.   Fortunately, there aren't many of these scenes, while the rest of Neil Jordan's Marlowe consists of characters trying to outwit each other with distracting, overly cute dialogue.  

Marlowe takes place in 1939 Bay City, California with the aged, lonely Marlowe met at his office by the blonde and mysterious Clare Cavendish (Kruger), who wants Marlowe to find her lover who has disappeared.   Marlowe's reporter friend Joe Green (Hart) tells Marlowe the man was run over and killed outside an exclusive club run by the slick Floyd Hanson (Huston), who may as well wear a VILLAIN sign on his back.  The plot thickens, and soon congeals, with the introduction of each character and different plot swerves.   When the payoff happens, I couldn't but think "All that for that?"

Marlowe's production design is flawless and the performances match the world-weary tone of the film.  Marlowe is film noir, as the inclusion of the character would suggest, but its the most glaring issue I had with it was that it had an overly complicated plot with too many characters, too much dialogue which draws too much attention to itself, and finally a conclusion which underwhelms.