Knox Goes Away Review – Unpredictable, A Mind-Bending Psychological Thriller

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Category: Film

Published on Thursday, 14 March 2024 17:19

Written by Janet Walker

Knox Goes Away, from Saban Films, brings to the screen a fast-paced mind-bending psychological thriller, as a hit man diagnosed with a degenerative brain disease is given one last chance to help the son he never knew.

The film opens in the diner as John Knox, played by Michael Keaton, is listening to his partner, Muncie, played by Ray McKinnon. As the two are talking, we see simple forgetting in John's behavior, He explains he is out for the day. We don't understand just exactly how these two are connected but we know they report to a man, Jericho.

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The next day Knox is undergoing tests. We see him in the MRI machine, and finally the doctor comes him with the diagnosis, which he admits his initial diagnosis was wrong. He does not have Alzheimer's, what he has is worse, a rare degenerative neurological disorder, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, that progresses rapidly. When Knox asks how rapidly? The physician explains weeks, not months.

When he arrives back in LA, he and John are on a job, which is when we realize he is a hitman. Inside the house, his brain short-circuits so instead of a clean kill, the job goes sideways.

He understands his time of clarity is quickly fading. Suddenly, his son, Miles, played by James Marsden, who he has not seen in decades, arrives at his door covered in blood, and pleading for his help. We soon realize, the blood is not his, and he murdered an Aryan nation pedophile, who seduced his daughter online, and then raped her. We realize that sometimes justice needs to be managed.

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John, who is highly intelligent, arrives at the scene of the murder, and stares at the scene. He begins taking notes, and gathering DNA, and then he splices the surveillance footage. With barely a minute to think, and less to think clearly, he enlists his trusted friend, Xavier, played by Al Pacino, to help him pull off his plan and help him cash out, before he is unable to remember anything.

By this time, the detectives are deconstructing the murder scene, where three bodies, and five bullets, don't add up. The details, as our lead detective, played by Suzy Nakamura, explains to her partner, played by John Hoogenakke, that someone turned off the water in the shower, which points to another shooter.

It doesn't take long to connect John to Muncie, and as John is the last man standing, they bring him in for questioning. By this time, he cannot even remember his middle name. The times of lucidity are less, and he still needs to retrieve the rest of his liquid assets so he can cash out.

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Miles, who believes his dad has erased his presence from the murder scene, still has uncontrollable rage and when a stranger looks at his daughter, he takes a swing. By that afternoon, he is arrested for the murder.

This sets up the final explosive and unpredictable ending.

Attention-grabbing, Knox Goes Away, directed by Michael Keaton, creates palpable suspense throughout.

Keaton, who leads the cast is convincing in his various stages of dementia decline and the addition of Al Pacino, Marsha Gay Harden, and James Marsden add high points to the storyline. The entire cast deliver strong character driven performances. The choice to allow the audience to experience the stages of dementia by creatively adding on-screen jaggedness, blackouts, and wavy moments in the depiction was an unusual and solid choice which helps to understand the disconnectedness the character experiences.

Riveting and gripping, Knox Goes Away opens exclusively in theaters March 15, 2024. See it.

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Country: U.S.

Runtime: 114 minutes.

Language: English.

Director: Michael Keaton.

Producer: Nick Gordon, Trevor Matthews, Michael Sugar, Ashley Zalta.

Executive Producer: Nick Blasko, Wayne Carmona, David Gendron, Alexa Goldberg, Michael Hansen, Nathan Holthauser, Andy Huang, Ali Jazayeri, Jillian Kay, Scott Lake, Eric London, Donald Povieng, Dina Randazzo, Ronald Richardson, Jonathan Saba, Carter Stanton, Viviana Zarragoitia.

Writer: Gregory Poirier.

Cast: Michael Keaton, James Marsden, Suzy Nakamura, John Hoogenakker, Joanna Kulig, Ray Mckinnon, Lela Loren, Marcia Gay Harden, Al Pacino.