Under Suspicion (1991)

Under Suspicion is the kind of sleek, twist-hungry British thriller that drops you into smoky late-’50s Brighton and lets the atmosphere do half the seducing—rainy streets, seedy hotels, and that constant feeling that everyone’s performing for someone. Liam Neeson makes a terrific anchor as a disgraced cop turned bargain-basement private eye, a man whose bad choices keep tightening into a noose as the mystery accelerates and the film keeps finding new ways to shift your footing. It’s not a flashy reinvention of the genre, but it’s brisk, confidently plotted, and genuinely fun in the way it keeps moving from clue to complication without stopping to congratulate itself. If you like your crime stories a little tawdry, a little romantic, and comfortably R-rated in both violence and sensuality, this one is an easy, satisfying watch.

Under Suspicion wants to be a smoky, late-’50s noir thriller about a compromised cop getting swallowed by his own lies, and you can feel the ambition in the setup and the moral grime. The problem is the mystery leans hard on familiar beats and keeps piling on twists until the plotting starts to feel more busy than clever, which can make it tough to stay emotionally invested. Liam Neeson brings a solid, weary presence and the period mood is occasionally effective, but the writing doesn’t always earn the turns it demands you accept. If you like pulpy, soapier thrillers and don’t mind a story that gets a bit wobbly as it tries to outsmart you, it may still scratch the itch; if you need tight, coherent whodunits, this will likely test your patience.