Memory

An English language remake of the Belgian thriller The Alzheimer Case, and the second action thriller this year to headline Liam Neeson, Memory is easily much better than the one he appeared in back in February (That would be Blacklight.), but does little to stand out beyond our expectations.  Still, it's getting a bit depressing to see a powerful actor like Neeson appear in these kind of movies non-stop.  I'm sure they pay the bills, but you know there have to be better scripts out there for a man of his talents. 

Once again, we find him in the role of a highly trained man who uses his skills to take out anyone who stands in his way.  The twists this time is that he is a killer for hire, and that he is slowly suffering from Alzheimer's. (Or not so slowly, seeing as he descends quite rapidly during the film's two hours.) His Alex Lewis is the best in the assassination business, and business is good, with his services in demand from criminals all over.  However, Alex knows he's not as sharp as he once was, and wants out.  Of course, first he has to do one more job.  He must take out two people, and while the first is no problem, the second turns out to be a child (Mia Sanchez), and that goes against his personal policy of not harming children.  This makes him a target, as he is hunted down by his former employer, criminals, cops, and the FBI, headed by agent Vincent Serra (Guy Pierce).  

Regardless of so many people being after him, and his fading competency from his disease, Alex decides to go gunning after the one who sent him on the hit, a powerful businesswoman named Davana Sealman (Monica Bellucci), who has a lot of lawmen in her pocket, and a clean record so lawyers are afraid to go after her with suits.  He has to stay one step ahead of the numerous people pursuing him for one reason or another, which obviously is not easy in his current state.  I can see how this could make for an interesting angle, and perhaps lead to some dramatic or powerful scenes where Alex is forced to face his past deeds, and while the screenplay by Dario Scardapane hints at these elements, it never fully embraces them, and instead follows the more routine route of chase scenes and bloody shootouts.

Director Martin Campbell (Casino Royale) stages some good sequences here, and the angle of the film's antihero being a killer with deteriorating mental capacity is an interesting one, but it surprisingly never builds to anything all that worthwhile.  This is one of those movies that is certainly watchable, and maybe a bit better than you expect walking in, but still never amounts to much.  We've had some excellent action movies the past month or so with The Batman, Everything Everywhere All at Once, and The Northman, so simply being watchable isn't good enough with that kind of stiff competition.  Compared to the bar those films have set, this seems quite dated, even with a Hard-R rating attached.

Seeing Liam Neeson kicking ass just isn't the thrill it used to be, and Memory does little to set itself apart from the many other times he's done it since Taken hit it big.  I suppose there's still an audience who turns out for this, but it must be dwindling by now.

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