Above Suspicion (2019)

Above Suspicion (2019)

No, despite the title, this is not a Steven Seagal movie, thank goodness!

Oh dear! I thought it was going to be a thrilling story, a crime story, a serial killer story with an investigation. Instead, I ended up with a mundane story about drugs, robbery, and infidelity! What a nightmare!

No, but seriously, movies that focus on drugs are really not my cup of tea.

However, what saves this movie are the actors, as well as the fact that it’s based on a true story, namely: When an FBI agent is transferred to a small town in Kentucky, he doesn’t expect to find himself at the center of a scandal…

Not to be confused with Stephen Larocque’s Above Suspicion (2000), a film starring Scott Bakula (Quantum Leap, NCIS: New Orleans, Star Trek: Enterprise).

Emilia Clarke steals the show, once again. Her charisma, talent, and beauty explode here. She is yet another actress whose performances deserve the highest praise. But even she can’t save the film, let alone make it excellent. I honestly wonder what could have prompted her to agree to participate in this mess.

Johnny Knoxville is certainly the best known member of the Jackass team, along with Steve-O. He regularly plays detestable characters, such as in We Summon The Darkness (2019), but that doesn’t stop him from being utterly charming in Small Apartments (2012), where I loved him. Let’s just say he stays true to himself.

Thora Birch doesn’t have a big role, but she doesn’t inspire much sympathy in general. Especially not in her 2001 films such as Ghost World or The Hole. In American Beauty (1999), it’s different: we feel the teenager’s discomfort, her suffering and her discovery that she can be loved. And she was certainly very pure in Dungeons & Dragons (2000). So… a rather discreet actress, despite the fact that she’s been around the block a few times.

As for Jack Huston, I don’t think I knew this actor. He is alternately attractive and more disgusting in this role.

Philip Noyce (director) is no beginner, though! However, he fails to draw me into his story. The idea was good, pitting an ambitious FBI agent against a girl lost between a violent ex-husband and a devastated town against a backdrop of closed mines and drug trafficking. The whole thing draws us into an ambiguous relationship with gloomy colors. The staging of this very classic, even boring thriller fails to arouse interest. Emilia Clarke’s voiceover guides the viewer, but…

In short: A completely uninteresting story. Characters who spend the film taking drugs or repeatedly committing adultery (to put it politely).

The film is more like a Saturday afternoon B movie than a serious work. The plot, which, as you will have understood, is based on the adultery of a law enforcement officer and a junkie with dubious connections, lacks depth.

It’s rather superficial and clichéd. Once again, the film gives a poor representation of law enforcement and masculinity in general, without managing to provoke any real reflection on the themes it addresses. That would have been interesting, though. Because we know there are obnoxious people out there. We don’t need this film to realize that.

As for the imagery, nothing transcendent or memorable.

Move along!

PS: The most interesting lines in the film are along the lines of: “When a man tells you that you’re doing the right thing… it means you’re doing the right thing for him!” or “People only remember what they can bear!” or “The worst thing about being dead is that you have all the time in the world to think…”

By the way, if you work for the FBI, one of the rules is not to sleep with an informant… especially if you’re already married!!!