What do Humphrey Boggart, Robert Mitchum, George Sanders and Liam Neeson have in common? They have all won Academy Awards. Something else? They have all played Philip Marlowe on screen. Marlowe is one of those characters who has long since surpassed the boundaries of the original book covers that made him famous. Like James Bond or Hercule Poirot. Raymond Chandler’s novels have inspired numerous screen adaptations, and more recently, Marlowe has become a character in the books of John Banville (an Irish-born writer and winner of numerous literary awards such as the Booker and Franz Kaflka) who revives Chandler’s world by inventing new adventures and investigations of the Californian detective. One of Banville’s books was the starting point for ‘Marlowe‘, the film made in 2022 by Neil Jordan. I don’t know who is responsible for the failure of this film with the public and some of the critics. Maybe this is also related to the pandemic that was dominating those years. I dared watch it, despite the bad reviews and the low rating on IMDB, because I’m a Marlowe fan, but also for Neil Jordan and for the cast that includes, in addition to Liam Neeson in the lead role, several actresses and actors that I like. I was not disappointed at all.
‘Marlowe‘ begins as a classic story with Philip Marlowe. A beautiful, blonde woman appears in the private detective’s office asking for his help to solve the disappearance of her lover. The woman is married, her mother is a famous actress, very rich on top of that, and the plot takes place in the world of the big Hollywood film studios and of the gangsters trafficking drugs brought from across the border, from Mexico. It’s a rather complicated plot, which our detective will elucidate in his style, in constant movement among the rich and the mob, policemen and beautiful women. Dangers and temptations appear at every step.
Liam Neeson‘s Philip Marlowe is older than the character in the book and than those who preceded him in so many other films that have him as a hero. This allows his blasé approach to be doubled by the life and professional experience of the detective who has seen just about everything in terms of crime, but also of human vices. ‘Marlowe‘ is not exactly an action movie, the detective effectively deals punches and even uses a gun, but only when necessary. His main weapons are his mind and understanding of human nature. I liked Neeson here too, the role being different from the one in the many action films in which he has been cast in recent decades. Female characters swarm around him, including the actress mother and the well-married and unfaithful daughter, played by Jessica Lange and Diane Kruger, who play the key roles in the detective mystery. The story is precisely set in the fall of 1939, after the outbreak of war in Europe, but before America was directly involved. The Los Angeles and Hollywood of the era are excellently recreated, with numerous references, including ironic nods, to the film industry of that period. The film lacks the excitement or lightness of a more detached entertainment, but it is still a well-written and executed neo-noir, and I see no reason not to recommend it for viewing when you have the opportunity.