“Marlowe” (** out of four) was an overly laconic character melodrama set in the 1930’s about the title detective Phillip Marlowe (Liam Neeson) who is hired by a woman (Diane Kruger) to find her lost lover (Nico Arnaud) and this leads to various ties involving the woman’s mother (Jessica Lange) and also the local underworld and police (Danny Huston, Colm Meaney, and others). 11th screen adaptation of Marlowe is made with high-sheen and pedigree by director Neil Jordan and writer William Monahan but never really comes to life, partially because it’s character and settings are all-too-familiar by now. Neeson is solid as usual but this cannot measure the intensity and pasison of his last collaboration with director Jordan in “Michael Collins” or his last collaboration with Lange in “Rob Roy.”