Liam Neeson and a memento mori.
With all lame puns cast aside, I originally started watching this film many months ago before falling asleep 15 minutes in and, when watching for a supposed first time recently, I remembered I had in fact watched the opening to the film once before. The power and unreliability of the titular Memory comes to the fore once more. What was also readily apparent in this tale of a veteran hitman with a conscience as well as a fading memory, is that Liam Neeson remains on star billing form in an interesting and enjoyable film that drew an almost immediate ironic parallel with Christopher Nolan’s Memento from 2000 as well as the headline star from that particular telling of a fractured, unreliable memory.
Here are your two principal players, both of whom have a memento mori to share:
“Alex Lewis” (Liam Neeson) The year 2022 alone was a busy one for the Northern Ireland born actor with appearances in four TV series as well as Blacklight and the recommended re-telling of the War era private detective Marlowe. Here he excels once more as a wantaway hitman now targeted for death himself as well as the target of human nature and human frailty as he deals with the onset of dementia. Writing notes on his forearms ala Guy Pearce in Christopher Nolan’s Memento, there is a backstory as well as a desire to escape from the only world he’s ever known, and for good.
“Vincent Serra” (Guy Pearce) Despite the shabby and unkempt exterior, there beats the heart of an empathetic FBI Agent dealing with his own shattered life as well as the children he tries to protect within the “Child Exploitation Task Force” team on the Mexico/USA border. It’s personal for Serra as his invaluable work masks the deep inner pain he carries with him and Guy Pearce is as watchable as ever. The Australian too has had a busy turn through this latest decade with four individual TV series alongside Disturbing the Peace, The Seventh Day (AVOID!) and Zone 414 (heartily recommended).
My review of Zone 414 is on the slate, and coming soon.
Directed by Martin Campbell (The Mask of Zorro, Casino Royale, Green Lantern) based on the novel “De Zaak Alzheimer” by Jef Geeraerts and a remake of a Belgian film entitled “The Alzheimer Case”, Monica Bellucci and Harold Torres in particular deserve kudos for their stand out supporting roles in a film that whilst I won’t highly recommend, nor is it particularly forgettable either.
Thanks for reading. Just for larks as always, and always a human reaction rather than spoilers galore. My three most recently published film articles are linked below or there’s well over 250 blog articles (with 500+ individual film reviews) within my film library from which to choose:
“Memories of a Murderer: The Nilsen Tapes (2021)
“I am a man. Not a monster. Awkward isn’t it?”medium.com
“Grindhouse” (2007)
Tarantino and Rodriguez at their most outrageous.medium.com
“John Wick” — Chapter 4 (2023)
The hitman legend continues.medium.com