Knox Goes Away movie review: Michael Keaton delivers an engaging crime thriller

You have to wonder at the story’s conceit, and whether it is just too much to put this illness and that trade together. Are we expected to pardon Knox everything just because fate has dealt him an unlucky hand?

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It all comes down then to Keaton, the protagonist as well as the director (his second film in the chair), and how well he takes us inside not just the head but also the heart of Knox. And therein lies the veteran’s triumph.

Keaton wears the loneliness of Knox, left by his wife and son due to what he does, on his face and his piercing black eyes – which are like tiny holes taking all in, giving little out.

But Knox is more than just that, he is also a double PhD, with more than a passing interest in psychology, a guy with loyal friends, even a regular hooker who likes him, and a military past that is suggested but not explored. Keaton also conveys that successfully, in the gentle, unhurried way that this film moves, far removed from the violence that lies at the heart of its story, and the few questions he puts to his son (Marsden), who turns up at his doorstep seeking help for the foulest of crimes.

Against your best intentions, you can’t help but like Knox, the hooker (Kulig), his wife (Harden, startlingly effective in the bit part she has) and his friends (including Pacino, playing Pacino).

That is perhaps enough for this story which could have remained just another whodunit, or deemed exploitative for adding dementia to the picture, or pretentious for letting us know that Knox is a man “who owns 10,000 books”.