Memory

I have seen four reviews of this action-thriller and all of them use the word “forgettable.” Why? I assume that’s a little joke because it doesn’t stay in the “memory.” Yet while an unforgettable (in a good way) flick is obviously far superior to unmemorable one, Liam Neeson action movies can be entertaining without staying in my mind days after I’ve seen it. Take Non-Stop, for example. Neeson played a U.S. Air Marshall on a plane. That’s all I remember except Neeson kicking ass in the sky. I don’t care about long-term memories in his films since Neeson (starting with Taken) has turned into one of cinema’s most popular action stars, though admittedly he seems to be nearing the end of his run. I want action, and I want to enjoy myself. That’s it.

In Memory, Neeson is Alex Lewis, a contract killer in demand by the cartels near Texas-Mexico border. Because he’s afflicted with Alzheimer’s and periodically loses his memory, he writes on his arms to remind himself of key details. This very much recalls the neo-noir mystery thriller Momento, in which the lead character Leonard Shelby uses tattoos and notes to assist him with his memory loss. The man who played Shelby is Guy Pearce, who’s also in this movie as FBI agent Vincent Serra. Alex has decided to stop being a paid killer after his next gig. When he realizes his next target is a teenage girl, who has been used in a child trafficking operation, he refuses to the job. Alex hears the girl was killed and believes it was corrupt real estate mogul Davana Sealman (Monica Bellucci). Serra knows Lewis is a hitman and hopes to bring him in.

There’s more to it than an FBI agent versus a hired killer. Serra is part of raid that led to the killing of the girl’s father and feels culpable about leaving her vulnerable (as she waits to be deported to Mexico) when she’s executed. While Alex goes on a killing rampage to get to Sealman, Serra comes to believe the FBI is deceitful in its dealings with wealthy people. He doesn’t think the bureau wants to prosecute the super rich, and he’s after information he thinks will force a superior to act against Sealman.

Memory, based on the novel De zaak Alzheimer by Jef Geeraerts, is a remake of the Belgian crime thriller The Memory of a Killer, the book’s earlier (and much better) adaptation. While there’s a lot going on, this actioner rates somewhere between poor and average. It’s watchable in its first act, adequately setting up Alex’s mental struggles and the FBI agents’ attempts to catch him. The movie, like many thrillers (Saboteur, North by Northwest, The Fugitive, The Sentinel), has a double-pursuit structure: Alex boils to get to Sealman, while agents Serra and Linda Amistead (Taj Atwal) track Alex. There’s a scene where Alex leaves his phone for Serra and Linda to find as Richard Kimble does for Samuel Gerard (Tommy Lee Jones) in The Fugitive. Although Alex is guilty and Kimble isn’t, the former leaves clues as a way get Serra to understand he’s after someone far more heinous than himself. What those thrillers have that this one doesn’t is a sense of rushing motion. Rather than having a bunch of chase sequences where Serra and Linda nearly nab Alex, too often it’s as though Alex and the FBI agents are in different movies. This is the fault of screenwriter Dario Scardapane and director Martin Campbell, both of whom should know that the excitement created by law enforcement trying to capture the person on the run is the lifeblood of this kind of thriller. Campbell’s pacing is inconsistent too. He shoots Alex’s tale using a quick tempo (the style normally associated with a Neeson flick), yet he gives Serra’s story a more moderate speed, again revealing the director’s inability to make the plot strands mesh.

There are other flaws. The villains are horrible. No, I’m not saying they’re terrible people (though they are). I’m saying they are so scantily sketched, it’s impossible to care about them. Sealman’s son is involved in child trafficking, but he gets so little screen time he doesn’t matter. Sealman is shown in opulent surrounding and says she wants to live forever, though nothing is done with that tidbit. She kills people, and since she’s got Detective Danny Mora (Ray Stevenson) under her control, she knows she’ll never be prosecuted. Had the movie concentrated on her more, she could have been an asset. But I knew little about her, other than she’s very bad. And the sound is so fortissimo, it’s off-putting. When Serra pushes a book and another item to Beatriz (Mia Sanchez), the sound department makes it sound like a slammed door. Alex thrusting a guy into a bathroom stall sounds like a wrecking ball smashing into a building. David Tattersall's cinematography is unattractive too.

Guy Pearce plays Vincent Serra competently. He’s in more of the movie than Neeson (at least, that seems to be true), and he lends his character plausible concern. While Memory gives his part of the movie more focus than Detective Eric Vincke (Koen De Bouw) had in The Memory of a Killer, Serra’s hatred for rich lowlifes who order hits and live above the law doesn’t produce the charge it should because the film doesn’t show enough examples of it. And while Pearce does what he can as Serra, he isn’t able to shape him into a vital character. Ray Stevenson gives Detective Danny Mora some force, which is welcome (since the villains are weak), although his Texas accent is feeble. Taj Atwai could have chalked up a few points with personality; unfortunately, I didn’t detect much. Harold Torres seems out of place as Hugo Marquez, a Mexican officer trying to kill Alex. He seems very much thrown into a movie that doesn’t need him. While that’s not his fault, Torres doesn’t seem fully relaxed in this part. Ray Fearon is lousy as Serra’s boss Gerald Nussbaum. He gets his face to be serious, but his expression rarely changes, and he never comes within miles of being a good character. He very much seems to be acting. Sadly, Monica Bellucci is stiff as Davana Sealman, making an underdeveloped character worse.

Then there’s Liam Neeson. While I’ve seen reviews stating that Neeson plays the same character he typically does, I don’t think that’s true. Alex isn’t the hero saving people from the bad guy—he is a bad guy. Admittedly, when compared the thugs he’s up against, he comes off as somewhat sympathetic. Besides that, he’s got Alzheimer’s, quite a departure from the cool-headed characters Neeson has portrayed in so many roles since 2008. A problem with this adaptation is it cuts down on Alex’s scenes (from the 2003 adaptation) and adds to Serra’s without making Serra’s frustrations engrossing. This change also limits Neeson’s performance. If he had more screen time, Neeson might have given a touching depiction. It’s clear toward the end when Alex speaks to Serra and leaves the vehicle that the moving film Campbell was attempting to make and the emotion Neeson hoped to evoke don’t happen.

Still, Neeson remains frequently in solid form. He has a presence few action heroes of his generation can touch. He can also mow down his foes with eye-grabbing ferocity. He also succeeds in illustrating pain. After he gets shot, his method of cauterizing the wound is shocking and he communicates the pain he endures extremely well. He’s just as good when he fears his memory has fooled him, like when he awakes and frantically asks the woman he picked up if he had been there all night. I must confess, it’s unsettling to see Neeson so vulnerable because he has made himself a household name by depicting tough characters. Seeing him so frail in voice and, at times, in emotion isn’t what I expect to see when he stars in an action thriller. And while his choice of scripts has been off in his past few flicks, Neeson continues to do all he can with the characters he plays.