Memory

Memory is certainly an improvement over "The Marksman" and "Blacklight," as it does have more committed performances from Liam Neeson and Guy Pearce. Their resonant work makes this a breezily watchable experience.

There is also an attempt to take on its government corruption themes with a little more intelligence than lesser thrillers have shown in the past.

Unfortunately, none of this stops this film from being a largely dull, uninspired rehash of generic action movie plot points that have been done better in dozens of other, better movies.

The action sequences are almost completely bereft of thrills, just going for shot/reverse shot during shootouts and shoddy choreography during fights.

Each character is reduced to what they do for a living, not really having much of a personality or set of convictions beyond that.

Lastly, the "unreliable memory of the protagonist" concept is barely used in the story. It could have been used to create a mystery to the events that unfold and what is actually real, but it isn't. All the story's questions are provided with quick and easy answers, and it all results in a very disappointing story with no emotional or intellectual impact.

I ended up leaving the theater feeling nothing, because the movie just isn't bad enough nor good enough for anything to be felt or remembered.

Nothing revolutionary with this film, in fact, it's pretty much formulaic, predictable, and cliched of every action film Neeson has already done - hence the name Memory?, but poorly produced and lazily written, that it ends up as a B-film. Even the ending was cringeworthy and something I'd expect from a high school drama class. The few action scenes were decent, but lacked proper choreography and camera shots to give them any 'wow' factor. I don't even know why this film was made, we certainly have seen it all before, and much better. The 114 min runtime felt much longer - even with the decent pacing, due to much filler and little substance. Casting and performances were decent. It's a generous 7/10 from me.

5.5/10

This was one of those movies that could've gone straight to home release and been more enjoyable. However, it goes to theatres and becomes a bit of a disappointment. The acting was mediocre, the story has a moment of strength then collapses, and it's just the same old plot with a slightly different twist.

The acting by Liam Neeson and Guy Pearce was good. I found that Neeson was stronger this time around compared to some of his other latest roles, and Pearce fit the role of FBI agent quite well. However, some of the major supporting just didn't seem to care at times. They lacked passion in the role or felt a little awkward.

The concept of the film was interesting. Guy is an assassin and taking on one last job until it interferes with his personal code. Then he turns around and begins killing those who've wronged him on the mission, but not without the difficulty of memory loss.

On paper it seems like a cool movie with cool characters and a relatively strong story that would be enjoyable. Until you watch it and the parts that tell the story are rushed and the parts that are fillers drag on and take more of the runtime. And honestly, the runtime already feels long at and hour and fifty-four minutes.

Overall, I was once again disappointed with a Liam Neeson film. The story lacks good visual representation and strong characters. I'd recommend waiting for this film to come out on a streaming service.

Thank you for taking the time to read my review. I hope it helps in your decision-making process of the film. Until next time.... Enjoy the show!

I guess Marty Campbell wished to do the same with Neeson as he did for Mel Gibson, back in 2010, with EDGE OF DARKNESS. Same kind of lead role, gloomy, desperate, so that's a perfect character for a more than aging actor as Liam Neeson. But EDGE OF DARKNESS was much better however, and Martin Campbell is maybe here not so dedicated or inspired as he probably was twelve years ago. The topic of the aging contract killer is not new anyway and it's then always difficult to create surprises, but the ending, though being not that surprising, remains worth watching the whole film. That's my opinion. And for once, Liam Neeson is nearly shown as a supporting character, because in this movie, there is no real lead one, and no one could deny that Neeson as here the most interesting role he had since a long time; nothing to do with SCHINDLER'S LIST however; I mean since he began his action movies, since TAKEN actually.

As far as modern Liam Neeson action thrillers go this one is defiantly up there with the better ones. He plays an aging assassin who is tasked with a target who winds up being a young girl, he later discovers that the family that hired him runs a child prostitution ring, and the girl was a part of it. As expected, he goes after them, but with the catch he's slowly suffering from Alzheimer's. The final act takes a few twists and turns one wouldn't expect and the additions of Guy Pearce and Monica Bellucci along with some solid gore defiantly help. The underlining theme of there's no justice for the rich is pretty good too.