'Memory' Review: Liam Neeson And 007 Director Martin Campbell Manage To Elevate The Action Film Past Mediocrity

Arlington TX

01 May, 2022

8:16 PM

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By Joe Friar, Fort Worth Report May 1, 2022 Somewhere in Hollywood, there exists a Liam Neeson Random Generator. Pull the lever and like a slot machine, three spinning reels determine the character, antagonist, and conflict. "Assassin" and "Ex-Marine" seem to come up the most but sometimes we get lucky and the display lands on "Snowplow Driver." For Martin Campbell's "Memory" the RG once again lands on "Assassin" for character, while the Antagonist display zooms past drug cartels, bad cops, and mafia, stopping on "Sex Trafficker," followed by the Conflict display resting on the elusive "Alzheimer's" symbol. And since we are dealing with recollection problems someone thought it was a good idea to get nostalgic by bringing in Guy Pearce from "Memento" to remind us that mind games can be fun. Neeson has become this generation's Charles Bronson. It doesn't matter what character he's playing, eventually, he becomes a vigilante. If he's playing a bad guy like a hitman in "Memory," he usually has a sudden change of heart and tries to do good thus seeking absolution from the moviegoer. The setting, El Paso. We find contract killer Alex Lewis (Neeson) living along the Rio Grande border in the Texas city which is 81% Hispanic. He's a bad guy working for other bad people, and no it's not the Mexican cartel, in this case, it's the beautiful and rich Davana Sealman played by Italian actress Monica Bellucci, who, like Lewis, is trying to boost the other 19% census numbers. Not so fast. Australian actor Guy Pearce shows up as FBI agent Vincent Serra because 007 director Martin Campbell is old school Hollywood (isn't he?) who once cast Welsh actor Catherine Zeta-Jones to play Elena de la Vega in the "Zorro" films and her fellow countryman Anthony Hopkins to play the masked vigilante. Like every Neeson film, he beats up a bunch of shady characters (that never gets old) and threatens to beat up everyone else, but "Memory" stands out from the actor's recent slew of action releases because his character is also battling Alzheimer's. Sure, as a hitman it's important to recall who you've been hired to knock off, so it's handy that Neeson's Lewis pops pills to help him remember when details get foggy. If the plot sounds familiar, "Memory" is a remake of the 2003 Belgian film "The Memory of a Killer." To read the full article, click here. Fort Worth Report is a nonpartisan, nonprofit news organization that produces factual, in-depth journalism about city and county government, schools, healthcare, business, and arts and culture in Tarrant County. Always free to read; subscribe to newsletters, read coverage or support our newsroom at fortworthreport.org.