Memory
OFFROADAs pained as it is, the inevitable joke has to be made. Put it to rest immediately. Memory won’t last in an audience’s memory at all. Such a cheap shot, but quite a morose one. Although Liam Neeson and Guy Pearce are no longer the beacons of quality they once were, the desire to see them in interesting projects with solid angles, such as this feature from Martin Campbell, is paramount as to why audiences continue to return to their embrace. How far the Casino Royale director has fallen. It isn't exactly a Green Lantern low, but considering where Campbell and many of these cast members once found themselves, it is unfortunate in a way. He skirts the edges a little too close for comfort with Memory, a feature as soulless as can be expected from this new iteration of old tales and action moments.
There are moments in Memory that will serve well. Who, exactly, it is not quite clear. Neeson’s assassin for hire with memory troubles is an incredibly interesting angle to take for the action star, but it is not given the necessary build-up and put down needed for such a genre flick. Action pieces that give an audience what they want almost immediately in a stubborn and violent opening that, surprisingly, plays more with the emotional core of Neeson’s character than it does with a violent tangent. Neeson has played the hitman role time and time again, but with Memory, it feels, well, memorable. Not since Taken has Neeson felt so interesting to engage with.
It is not his finest hour, naturally, but it is the unique approach he takes to the failing memory of an assassin for hire that gives Memory some unique and identifiable hook. Pearce does not get off so easily, with greasy hair and slick cream suits putting him up to a style and range that makes him look like William H. Macy portraying a defunct lawyer of the back streets. Not a look Pearce would have at one point associated himself, but when Zone 414 is the highlight of the previous decade, the bar is not a high one to leap. Still, Pearce plays the inevitable good guy role fairly well, it is just fascinating to see how far he has fallen from the glory days of Memento. Pearce and Neeson are two actors that, despite their range and spirited qualities, will always draw a lower brow of feature filmmaking, yet somehow turn it into vaguely interesting and palatable experiences.
That is, ultimately, what many of these action features boil down to. Audiences return to these features not just out of some sympathy or dedication to an actor they have previously enjoyed, but in a ghoulish fashion. Like a zoo full of defunct entertainers, Memory serves as most of the other action features do. There is a delicacy to it, a production value that feels far higher than most and a director whose vision and competence behind the camera hasn’t entirely waned or died out after his time at the top. Memory will provide viewers with the inevitable “I know this face from . . . ” and “I can’t believe Liam Neeson is still doing this . . . ” years after he said he would retire from the action genre. He’s like Al Pacino in The Godfather III, although Pacino was never forced into making action feature after action feature. No, he was the face of the Dunkaccino. Who had it worse?