Knox Leaves Away: Explanatory Notes
Michael Keaton directed Knox Goes Away, a crime thriller with an original twist: Contract killer John "Aristotle" Knox (Michael Keaton), a book lover, is diagnosed with Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, a fast-moving kind of dementia, which leaves weeks to live. Knox's partner-in-crime, Thomas "Tommy" Muncie (Ray McKinnon), is also his closest friend. Stranged from his wife, Ruby (Marcia Gay Harden), and his adult son, Miles (James Marsden). Knox chooses to leave the company and takes one last mission. Knox's world collapses when Miles shows up on his door confessing to killing a man who attacked his teenage daughter after he kills Tommy by accident during the hit.
John Knox loses his mental faculties while wind-up in prison.
John is arrested at the end of Knox Goes Away for both murders by Detective Emily Ikari (Suzy Nakamura). The episode occurs several weeks following Knox's arrest, thus his aggressive type of dementia has truly seized hold. Unable to identify Miles, Knox is later sent to a medical facility where he will spend whatever little time he has remaining. A catatonic Knox looks out the window, totally gone, in Knox Goes Away's last shot.
Xavier Crane assists in developing a detailed plan to place the murders on John.
Former criminal Xavier Crane (Al Pacino), friend and colleague of John Knox, aids in Knox's creation of a perfect scheme to clear Miles' name and safeguard his retirement funds for his estranged family. Knox first painstakingly cleans the crime scene, careful to eliminate any evidence that would accuse his son. Knox saves evidence for later, but his actual goals aren't clear for some time. Miles briefly ends up in prison, but it is obviously all part of Knox and Xavier's multistep scheme. Knox even pays Miles a visit in jail, laying a motive that will come in handy later on.
Knox Carefully Plants and Tampers Based on Evidence
Following his run-in with Annie (Joanna Kulig), the woman he has been seeing, and a crew of burglars, an increasingly disoriented Knox calls Xavier once again. Xavier calls the police, the next step in their well thought out scheme, even though he wants Knox well. Detective Ikari and her colleagues find upon arresting Knox that the evidence discovered at Miles' house—which landed him in prison—had been altered. To add more intrigue, it appears that John Knox placed the evidence; naturally, that is exactly what happened. Miles is released from jail and John replaces him since the cops believe John set Miles on the murders.
Ending Tackles of Redemption for Knox Goes Away
Though he tries to balance a lot of plot threads and themes in Michael Keaton's Knox Goes Away, his overly ambitious approach results in improper execution of any one of them in a meaningful manner. The bloat problem is brilliantly exemplified in the subplot with Annie. Although the film's hook, a contract killer racing against the clock to save his son from being sent to prison for murder, is intriguing, Knox Goes Away also tries to be a movie about an absentee father finally doing what's best for his child, which is, partly, why Knox takes the responsibility.
Thanks to his fast advancing form of dementia, John Knox realizes he has little time left. Knox, laden with a lifetime of regrets, is at last given the chance to really be of use to his son. Of course, Miles's situation—an accidental murder—allows John Knox to apply his particular set of abilities to get at that pardon. Keaton's movie certainly makes every effort to show John Knox as noble at last. Knox goes Away on an intriguing note even though he has made many mistakes; he uses his last days of clarity for the good of his family.
