Memory

While in Salvador, Brazil, in a medical congress, the researcher of Alzheimer Dr. Taylor Briggs (Billy Zane) and his colleague and friend Dr. Deepra Chang (Terry Chen) are invited to visit a local hospital. They find a patient from Amazon with a unique case of tumors in the memory cells, and while examining him, the glove of Taylor ruptures and his finger touches a strange powder. Taylor has visions from 1971, and once back to Boston, he finds that he has genetically stored memories of a serial killer of little girls activated by the powder.

"Memory" is a messy and absurd thriller. I was attracted by the cast, with Dennis Hopper, Ann-Margret and Billy Zane, but I in the end I was absolutely disappointed with the coincidences and the insane and totally unbelievable story. For Brazilians, it is hilariously ridiculous the geographic confusion of the screenplay, with a sick patient coming from Amazon to Salvador (why?); Taylor and Deepra are in a congress in Salvador (there is a footage of the city), they go to a bar and the director uses footage of the front of "Barril 1800", in Ipanema, Rio de Janeiro instead of a local bar; the interior of the bar is probably in a studio. My vote is four.

Title (Brazil): "Alucinações" ("Hallucinations")

The cast members explained in interviews that the main theme of Bennett Davlin's "Memory" is the idea of seeing something through someone else's eyes, as the main character (Billy Zane) does: an otherwise benevolent person suddenly has memories of committing horrible acts. This is not a slasher movie or home invasion movie. There's the issue of what has been hidden. Parts of the movie did trick me a little bit, and I found it to be a pretty clever flick. It's not frightening or anything, but I liked how they laid everything out.

OK, so we could be cynical and say that this is a totally improbable story. So what? The movie is understood to be improbable. I still say that it's a very clever plot. Above all, it's great to see Dennis Hopper (RIP) and Ann-Margret still playing such interesting roles. Worth seeing.

After accidentally touching an unknown drug, Taylor Briggs (Billy Zane) begins having flashbacks to the life of someone else -- a child abductor who has never been caught. Can he put the pieces together and solve the crime before the kidnapper abducts again?

I have said in other reviews that Billy Zane really makes a movie. My trust in that statement was fractured after seeing "The Mad" (though I don't blame Zane), but once more restored after this picture. He appears in practically every scene. While not the greatest film you'll see (it has a very made-for-TV or straight-to-video feel about it), the plot is interesting and the characters likable. Billy Zane, of course, helps tremendously by being the evil twin of Ben Affleck.

It also helps to have Dennis Hopper play Taylor's foster father Max Lichtenstein, although his only purpose in this film is to show up at random times with a few beers and cigars. Oh well, he's still better here than he was in "Land of the Dead". "Max," says Hopper, "is a guy whose wife has died and he's sort of coasting through life a bit like a ghost. But it's a really warm relationship that he has with Taylor -- something genuine and real." That's a good quote. And Hopper knows Max, if the rumors are true, because he spent weeks studying his lines despite being a relatively small character -- residents around town would catch him in restaurants reading. Tricia Helfer was also pretty decent, though not particularly noteworthy.

This was a plot-driven film, to be sure. Rated R for "language and frightening images", there's no nudity or gore here. The frightening images, as far as I can tell, are just a person in a mask. Nothing really disturbing. There's a photo album that may be thought as disturbing by some. I thought it was deviously brilliant.

The plot was excellent because it's not only a thriller but also a mystery (a race against time to solve a child abduction case, while the lead also must find how he's connected to the kidnapper). There's even sub-mysteries (such as how the lead's girlfriend knows about the kidnappings) that might leave you guessing. And random shout-out: nice use of a cell phone as a flashlight. We've all been there.

I give this film credit because I thought I had it figured out before it was half over. My two guesses about certain plots were close, but ultimately both wrong. There's a few twists you won't see coming. The "big reveal" is disappointing only if you're being overly critical, as they sort of dump it all on you at once for no reason. But I thought it was okay.

I wouldn't have rented this film on my own, but having been asked to review it, I'm glad I did. If you're scanning the new releases and find this, you could do much worse. I saw it with two friends and we all seemed to enjoy it, so it caters to a wider range than just myself. And Billy Zane and Dennis Hopper are in it. Worth checking out if you want a story different from your usual serial killers and splatter films.

I don't know why this is going round as a horror movie, it's not even close. Memory is a thriller and a passable one at that.

Billy Zane, Dennis Hopper, Tricia Helfer and Ann-Margret star in this clever though ultimately flawed little tale of a man recieving premonitions and his efforts to decipher them.

This is evidence once again that Billy Zane is one of Hollywoods most underrated, underutilised and underappreciated actors. The man can do it all yet gets stuck with wall to wall b-movies.

Memory has some nice ideas but fails to present them very well, it's one of those films that could have been great if handled by the right people but alas wasn't.

Decent enough effort but should have been better.

The Good:

Cast deliver

Some nice ideas

The Bad:

Generic delivery

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

Billy Zane needs more appreciation

Dennis Hopper CAN do roles without coming across as weird and/or disturbing

Memory: unforgivably stupid plot, nonsensical action and motivations, terrible performances from everyone but Dennis Hopper, male "characters" are defined by alcohol and sex obsession + vague, cartoonish nobility, female characters have no attributes, music is cheap and overbearing, editing is distractingly shoddy, much of the action is literally the lead character reading exposition aloud to himself, and it's never at all thrilling. There's a very small amount of stupid fun in the film's preposterous conclusion, but all things considered, Memory isn't really worthy of complete sentences. -TK 10/31/10