By Robert Scucci
| Published
To this day, I haven’t seen a Michael Keaton-starring movie that I didn’t like, and I’ll argue to the death over the fact that he’s the best Batman to ever have graced the silver screen. I can also extol the virtues of Birdman, The Founder, Mr. Mom, the Beetlejuice franchise, and, my personal favorite, Johnny Dangerously until I’m blue in the face, but I feel the need to point attention to Knox Goes Away, a thought-provoking crime thriller about declining mental health that not only stars Keaton in the titular role, but also sees him in the director’s chair.
It’s All A Matter Of Perspective
At its core, Knox Goes Away tells a simple story about a hit man being forced into retirement due to a life-altering Cruetzfelt-Jakob disease (dementia) diagnosis. Knowing that he has very little time to get his affairs in order before he succumbs to his illness, John “Aristotle” Knox (Michael Keaton), decides to cash out his various assets so he could set his estranged family up with a hefty payday before he no longer has the wherewithal to do so.
Matters get complicated when John botches his last job, inadvertently killing his partner Thomas Muncie (Ray McKinnon), as well as an innocent bystander who happened to be in the shower with his intended target. Though John is mostly lucid during this sequence, he admittedly does a sloppy job covering his tracks to make the scene look like a murder-suicide because he’s already having dementia-induced episodes that hinder his capacity for critical thinking.
Two Investigations In Tandem
Catching wind of the hit-gone-wrong, Detective Emily Ikari (Suzy Nakamura), immediately knows the scene was doctored because John turned the shower off, which makes no sense given the context of John’s cleanup job. Though she suspects John’s involvement, he covers his tracks just enough to not be a person of interest in this case until more evidence against him could be gathered.
Meanwhile, Knox Goes Away introduces a second source of conflict in the form of John’s estranged son, Miles (James Marsden), paying him a visit out of the blue and asking for help. Miles finds himself in a mess of a situation involving his daughter, Kaylee (Morgan Bastin), and the much older man she was seeing who impregnated her. Miles, who at first simply wants to put the fear of god into the man who took advantage of his daughter, ends up brutally murdering him, and leaving behind a substantial trail of evidence.
Michael Keaton Is Brilliant as John Knox
Slowly losing his grip on reality, John works with a former colleague named Xavier Crane (Al Pacino) to make sure he’s kept on track as he tries to evade the authorities, sell off his assets, and save his son from a life in prison. What struck me most about Michael Keaton’s performance in Knox Goes Away was how his lack of cognitive fortitude was never used to generate cheap “gotcha” moments, but rather drive the story in a way that truly shows you how his mind works.
Though John Knox cannot tell you what he had for breakfast, even though his plate is still sitting in front of him, he becomes calculating and meticulous when he gets to work, showing the viewer just how his muscle memory and instinct take the driver’s seat despite his rapidly declining mental state. He also leaves those he’s working with a breadcrumb trail of subtle clues that will ultimately guide them, and himself, to the desired outcome, whether he’s cognizant of his actions or not. Even though John knows he’s getting sloppy and there’s nothing he could do about it given his condition, his uncanny ability to buy himself time while he tries to make things right is astonishing.
Double Twist Ending
Most psychological thrillers end with a stunning twist or reveal, and Knox Goes Away is no exception. What sets this Michael Keaton vehicle apart from its contemporaries, however, is how loaded with misdirects its third act is. You want to think that John Knox is dropping the ball left and right, but he somehow manages to stay not one or two, but several steps ahead of everybody who’s witnessing his decline in real time. Having just watched the film last night, I’m still processing how brilliantly Knox Goes Away resolves itself, because I was honestly expecting a cop-out ending that it was a dream the whole time or some other similarly overdone plot device that’s the result of lazy writing after so much intense buildup.
Knox Goes Away is a masterclass in misdirects, suspense, and psychological decline, and I strongly recommend it to anybody who wants to see Michael Keaton in top form, not only as an actor, but as a director.
As of this writing, you can stream Knox Goes Away on Max with an active subscription.