You Were Never Really Here (2017)

Joe (Joaquin Phoenix) is a former soldier and FBI agent who has transitioned into private work.  He recovers missing girls, frequently leaving their kidnappers dead.  Joe has seen a lot of dark stuff in his life, from his abusive father, to murdered kids in the Middle East, to dead children piled in a van.  He suffers dark thoughts and regularly ponders suicide.  Perhaps the only reason he does not commit suicide is that he is caring for his elderly mother (Judith Robert).

Hired to recover a NY State Senator's daughter, Joe buys a hammer and duct tape.  He beats several men to death with the hammer before carrying Nina (Ekaterina Samsonov) to safety.  However, it is not the father who comes to collect her.  Joe has been betrayed and finds himself on the run.  Can he unravel what has happened before he gets captured or killed?

After seeing Phoenix as an emaciated Joker, it was strange to see him as a stout fighter.  He is quite good in the role, which is important since he is the movie.  The is the story of Joe at a particular time in a difficult life.  He's in virtually every scene.  Despite his generally polite demeanor, Joe is a brutal killing machine that moves as quietly as a cat.

The movie doesn't spell out points.  Early on, there are indications that Joe might actually be invisible.  He is extremely good at sneaking up on people so as to beat them over the head with his hammer.  In the novel, Joe is obviously expert at crime scenes (i.e., FBI Agent) and knows exactly how to leave no trace that he was ever there, thus the title.  That didn't come over well in the film.  The senator proves to be the villain, which is not a spoiler.  However, it doesn't make sense in the film.  He sold his daughter to pedophiles and then sent Joe to get her and then betrayed Joe?  Why?  Pedophiles kidnapped his daughter and he knows the address but doesn't send in the police?  The senator is a pedophile and his daughter escaped to another bunch of pedophiles?  Yeah, I don't see how it fits together and the movie doesn't explain.

Just okay.