Memory; Grade: D
Memory tells a story about an assassin named Alex (Liam Neeson), who has had a history of assassinating people for hire. Alex is going through a rough ordeal as he’s struggling with his memory, as Alex has to write down brief details about such and such on his arm, to help him remember. His father also had some kind of disease similar to Alzheimer's, as Alex is slowly developing that same kind of disease as well as time goes on. Alex is hired to murder a couple people. Alex takes down the first victim at ease, however the second person… Alex refuses to do so, on the count it’s a thirteen year old girl. So Alex is now on a killing spree, taking down one by one of this evil criminal organization whom were responsible in hiring Alex to kill the girl in the first place.
I wasn’t planning on seeing this film on a Saturday afternoon, as I was looking forward to bowl a couple games, I haven’t bowled in quite sometime. Well unfortunately considering it’s the weekend and Cosmic bowling was taking place, the cost of one game is $8…. That is ROBBERY!!! So I ended up settling by watching the newest Liam Neeson film, which lucky for me the theater setting had recliners so at least I was comfy along with the process.
The best thing going for this film is Liam Neeson if we’re completely honest. Liam Neeson gives you one significant reason why exactly should you continue watching this meh film, his performance really speaks for itself. Liam Neeson is putting in so much effort, hard work, and even surprisingly emotion into this role… Like this film does not deserve a high end quality level of a Liam Neeson performance, but for some reason Liam must’ve been real passionate about this script.
I mean there is one crucial moment where Liam’s character Alex is in so much pain because he suffered a gun shot wound, as Liam elevates his performance on a whole new level as the way he lets out tears as you buy into him being in so much pain, that he’s crying out… I don’t know what Memory triggered for Liam to where he wants to give it 110%, but SHEESH that scene alone was worth every penny spent I must say. There’s also one fun action sequence with Liam, where the scene is taken place at a bar involving a drunk asshole and a woman… My reaction was holding up a thumbs up, it felt like a classic Liam Neeson kind of action sequence this film desperately needed.
Other than that… Memory isn’t the worst film ever made or the worst written film, however this film isn’t that good. This film felt too similar to a recent Liam Neeson film that dropped in 2020 The Honest Thief: A character in which did a lot of wrong doings, however wants to make a change for the better by securing justice of some sort. Sure the storyline of both of those movies are different, but the tone and the way the characters go about felt way too similar as the film lacked originality.
The main problem with Memory is Alex struggling with his memory… The film is extremely lackadaisical with this element, that it almost felt completely irrelevant with this entire story. As Alex “struggles” with his memory, I believe I can talk for the audience…Heck we’re struggling with our memory while watching this film, as we completely forget Alex has a memory issue majority of this run time.
Other than Liam Neeson: The rest of the cast is tremendously terrible, as Liam Neeson was literally carrying them all on his back. Not to mention this one actress, which channels like three different accents… She tries an American accent, then a Spanish accent, then all of a sudden out of nowhere another accent… What the hell is going on?!?! I don’t think there is much more to say about this film, pretty basic standard kind of drama/action film you’re accustomed in seeing.
Overall, Memory is a bad film that’ll not stay in anyones memory the next day after watching this film. I don’t recommend this film, at least this film isn’t as terrible or boring as Liam Neeson’s earliest film of 2022 Blacklight… Memory is much more tolerable, entertaining, and watchable than that dreadful mess. -Mitch Smietana