Memory review

[Westside Steve]

Memory

Open Road

R.         114 min

Yes, I know. Another Liam Neeson movie another tough guy with and independent nature that gets him into trouble. Well, to be fair, it also probably gets a bunch of bad guys in trouble so there's that. I haven't seen it yet but that's my guess. And as much as I like seeing bad guys get their comeuppance my reasoning for selecting this one is that it opens in a couple of hours. I haven't read anything about it yet but I'm guessing. My prep has been pretty much limited to checking out the cast and this one is directed by Martin Campbell who directed a couple of Bond flicks CASINO RROYALE and GOLDENEYE, certainly a couple respectable outings, but on the other hand he was at the helm of well-known stinker GREEN LANTERN. So there's that. The only other cast members to strike my attention was Guy Pearce as Vincent Serra, who, I'm assuming, is the bad guy.

Intermission:

Okay then, I was wrong Guy Pearce is not the bad guy he is, however, the victim of one of the worst examples of hair and makeup I've seen in a major motion picture. Yes, I know that doesn't have much to do with how good the movie was or not but is one of the few things that struck me just out of the blue as odd. Greasy hair and rough skin made him almost hard to look at. Don't know why they would do this. Number two oddity is during the opening credits one of the few production companies that had their logo at the beginning was 3 black bear. Their video logo consisted of looking through a window to a sidewalk below and a bear walking along the sidewalk. There is only one bear and he was either brown or ginger. The Third inconsequential strangeness was from casting. There are three substantial female roles three different ages all of them looks nearly identical, just a different age.

And here's a piece of trivia oh, this film is a remake of a Belgian film adapted from the same novel titled The Alzheimer case. And one more surprise: I just looked at the Rotten Tomatoes score which gave MEMORY a 28% score. It's kind of surprising because even though it wasn't a landmark of filmmaking it was still an interesting crime mystery with a couple of hooks and twists that made it worthwhile in the end. There is a spoiler coming up soon so you're on your own. Neeson is Alex a contract killer for many years working for whoever needs somebody, well, eliminated. After finding out he's suffering from Alzheimer's and has only a few months to live he decides to retire but the cartel will have none of that. Shift gears. A very evil guy with lots of money and very connected friends, is forcing young teens to perform as prostitutes. When one of the girls escapes, she is put on the list as Alex's last victim since she can identify her captors. Not only does he refuse making himself the target of these monsters but also decides to use his remaining time on Earth to rid the world of them. Now the car till and the cops are out to get him. In case you're wondering yes, I have been purposely vague on the details because after the bad press people might avoid seeing MEMORY and they really shouldn't. It's much better than the Rotten Tomatoes grade and much better than I expected. Some terrible people get rubbed out, justice is done and the tragic flaw (the ancient rule of drama in which a protagonist, no matter how noble, who commits an unforgivable sin cannot be allowed to live) sadly enough plays out just as it was intended.

B

WSS