Quartile rating: 7.5/10 · 1 rating
A contract killer, after being diagnosed with a fast-moving form of dementia, is presented with the opportunity to redeem himself by saving the life of his estranged adult son. But to do so, he must race against the police closing in on him as well as the ticking clock of his own rapidly deteriorating mind.
Knox Goes Away is elevated primarily by Michael Keaton's committed, nuanced performance as a hitman grappling with rapid cognitive decline — it's genuinely one of his best late-career turns. The premise smartly merges the hitman-thriller genre with a poignant dementia narrative, giving it some emotional and thematic texture that rises above formula. However, the plot mechanics are somewhat conventional for the crime-thriller genre, leaning on familiar beats around police pursuit and family redemption arcs. Cinematography is competent but unremarkable. The ending provides reasonable emotional closure without being particularly surprising or resonant. Novelty is moderate — the dementia-hitman angle feels fresh enough but doesn't fully distinguish itself as a wholly singular cinematic experience.