Michael Keaton has had one of the most unoriginal and extraordinary careers. Starting out as a stand-up comic in the Pittsburgh area, he went to work for a local news station and then found himself working alongside Fred Rogers on Mister Rogers Neighborhood. Rogers would comment how Keaton (then known as John Michael Douglas) would try to make them all laugh. So, he was put in front of the camera on a few shows.
Eventually, Keaton would appear alongside David Letterman in a Mary Tyler Moore variety show. He managed to work his way up being cast in Night Shift where he shares a scene with an unknown Kevin Costner. Then, he was leading roles in Mr. Mom and Johnny Dangerously. The 1980s may have not brought the best movie roles but he ended the decade playing Batman/Bruce Wayne the iconic 1989 summer blockbuster that along with the original Superman set the standard for comic-book movie adaptations.
Unfortunately, he wanted to do more that play the iconic Caped Crusader and took on daring roles in Pacific Heights, The Paper and Desperate Measures. Still his appearance in anything was still getting people excited and he appeared in Oscar-winners Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) and Spotlight.
His re-emergence as an aging Bruce Wayne/Batman in The Flash was one of the troublesome movies’ highlights. And his “Come at me” gesture as Danny DeVito and Arnold Schwarzenegger played with him at this years’ Oscars ceremony was one of the show’s biggest highlights. Was it planned or did Keaton just play along? Who knows? Who cares? It was great.
So, now that Keaton is 72, it’s just the right time for him to do a movie like Knox Goes Away. He plays John Knox, an aging hitman who has been diagnosed with an advanced form of dementia, Cruetzfeldt-Jakob disease. His doctor tells him he doesn’t have much time left to get his affairs in order before he totally loses his memory and cognitive skills.
Of course, then what should be a routine hit job goes wrong, as they always do in movies like this. This alerts the police with an investigation led by Det. Emily Ikari (Suzy Nakamaura). And things go from bad to worse when John’s estranged son, Miles (James Marsden) shows up at his door saying he just killed the man who had raped his daughter, Kaylee (Morgan Bastin).
John tells Miles to keep quiet and contracts an old acquaintance, Xavier Crane (Al Pacino looking like he agreed to do the role if it was shot as quickly as possible and he didn’t have to do much.) What happens next I can’t say because the plot is so simple but goes through great lengths to make it look complicated, it’s almost insulting.
Keaton also directed this movie. It’s his first director job since 2009’s The Merry Gentleman. But you have to hold his feet to the fire for such a dull crime drama. It’s almost two hours with credits, but I don’t think even if it was sliced down to 90 minutes, it would’ve been any better. Keaton’s performance shows that there is still a gifted actor behind the cowl of Batman. And I give Keaton credit for not romanticizing the violence another director might have done.
However, a more skilled director would’ve made a better movie or seen the script’s flaws for what they have and improved them. Keaton has worked for many brilliant and talented directors. While he doesn’t try to emulate any of those directors, he doesn’t have any real style of his own.
What do you think? Please comment.
Zane Says 