Liam Neeson stars as Philip Marlowe, caught in a sordid web of lies and death, but one gruesome detail makes the film noir tone work better.
Neil Jordan's Marlowe follows Liam Neeson's world-weary detective, Philip Marlowe, as he attempts to uncover what happened to raconteur Nico Peterson, and one gruesome detail at the beginning of the case highlights why the film noir genre works better today.
SCREENRANT VIDEO OF THE DAY While suspense and paranoia are hallmarks of the film noir movie genre, modern sensibilities have changed the approach to death and blood. In a 1940s film noir movie, the truly wicked acts happened offscreen. Nowadays, very little is left to the imagination, to the point where Marlowe interviews a witness with a bloody eyeless socket. However, one unexpected Marlowe moment not only provides a shocking visual, it makes the case an even more tangled web of complexity.
The way in which Nico supposedly dies actually proves to be a vital component of the mystery, as it sets off a chain reaction. Because Marlowe is forced to allocate time toward tracking down someone who can confirm the identity of the body, he discovers that everyone from the coroner to members of the LAPD is on the take from the club owner.
Having More Graphic Deaths Ups The Stakes Film noir has been transmogrified through the decades, but having more graphic deaths in a modern interpretation such as Marlowe ups the stakes. During the Marlowe movie ending, as the gumshoe is preparing to fight his way out of the club's deepest recesses, he is surrounded by the corpses of everyone killed for crossing Floyd Hanson, the ghoulish display making it clear that he is not a man who lets himself be crossed twice.
Nico's blood-splattered death helps the dangerous world of hard-boiled detective fiction come alive and feel authentic in a way that simply could not be done in the 1940s because of societal standards and censorship. The violence shows that actions have consequences, and reflect the unremitting grimness of Marlowe's environment. In Marlowe, it highlights that while Raymond Chandler's famous antihero is up against a brutal world, he keeps fighting for the truth regardless.
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