Mémoire meurtrière

I was pretty exited for this when I saw that the director of some of my favorite action films was teaming with Liam Neeson for a twisty thriller about a hitman with memory issues. Unfortunately, the unreliable narrator aspect is not really utilized to full effect here. I expected more twists and turns, but instead it's a mostly straightforward story. The story does have a little more heft than most action films though and also boasts a pretty loaded cast.

Neeson gives a fine performance of someone with Alzheimer's, however Guy Pearce is the real highlight here. Memory has some decent action and thrills, but ultimately doesn't quite reach its potential.

Well, I have to say that Liam Neeson keeps pumping out good movies these past many recent years. So I have to say that when I sat down to watch "Memory" from writer Dario Scardapane and director Martin Campbell, I was harboring some expectations.

And "Memory" delivers. Yes, this is another coin in the piggybank movie from Liam Neeson. The storyline was nicely written, and it was more than just your average action thriller, because "Memory" gives you something to think about with its storyline, and also gives you some great characters.

The cast ensemble in "Memory" was good. Liam Neeson was just brilliant in this movie and this particular role, and I will say that it was refreshing to see him in a role such as this. The movie also have Guy Pearce, Taj Atwal, Harold Torres, Monica Bellucci and Ray Stevenson on the cast list among others. The entire cast pulled together and performed quite well all throughout the entire movie.

"Memory" is a very engaging action thriller, especially because writer Dario Scardapane immediately sweeps you up and takes you on a thrill-ride with lots of ups and down, and throws enough curveballs at you to keep you in the dark.

If you enjoy action thrillers and Liam Neeson, then "Memory" is a must-watch movie. I was genuinely entertained by this one. And I dare actually say that it is without a doubt one of the better movies with Liam Neeson, and that says a lot, because he has been putting out a lot of good movies over the past couple of years.

I can and will warmly recommend you sit down to watch "Memory".

My rating of "Memory" lands on a seven out of ten stars.

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.

Wasn't as bad as the unreliable rating suggests, the movie was actually quite interesting and original with some nice twists like liam's typical movies that has a rather different ending. The actions werent actually intense but was still intriguing enough to keep viewing, the acting were decent and the story was rather convincing but with some minor flaws. Again ignore the critics and imdbs phony ratings, a 6 to 6.5 is a more accurate rate for the film.

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.