Liam Neeson’s most recent action thrillers have been, for lack of a better word, dogshit. Okay, The Ice Road was passable, but Blacklight was an unmitigated train wreck that ranks as one of the worst films I’ve seen in the past decade. Still, I find myself watching every single movie he stars in, hoping that his Collet-Serra days aren’t permanently behind him. For this reason, I was actually kind of excited to see Memory, especially knowing that legend Martin Campbell (GoldenEye, Casino Royale) was behind the camera with Guy Pearce co-starring. It’s also a remake of a well-regarded Belgian film/novel with a simple but intriguing premise, so it had that going for it too. However, having now watched it, I’m not that surprised to report that my excitement was misplaced.

In order for a movie like Memory to succeed, it first and foremost has to capitalize on its premise. In this film, Neeson plays Alex Lewis, an aging assassin who’s rapidly succumbing to Alzheimer’s disease. He wants to retire, but instead he receives another target package. Reluctantly, Lewis heads to El Paso and gets to work, but he quickly discovers that he’s been employed by human traffickers who want him to kill a 13-year-old girl. He ardently refuses, with subsequent events driving him to go full-Taken on the traffickers. However, will he be able to defeat the bad guys before his disease completely deprives him of his faculties? This is a pretty interesting question for the audience to ponder. If only the screenwriter had truly pondered it himself.

Before I elaborate, I should note that the first act of Memory is actually pretty decent, putting everything in place in such a way that the audience clearly understands the situation Lewis finds himself in. His mind is decaying, yes, but he’s still able to cleanly dispatch his targets, either with a gun or his bare hands. Furthermore, with the first kill of the movie, the film is able to establish that it’s certifiably Rated R, which is good news for us action buffs. Plot-wise, Memory is mostly easy to follow and features a simple but effective tactic to get its viewers to root for the main character: he refuses to kill a child. In addition to this, there’s even a hint, via a dream that Lewis has, that his actions and memories might not be in sync anymore. I found this development to be highly compelling and full of potential. Credit where credit’s due, I suppose. So far, so good.

Sadly, all of the momentum and potential built up in the first 30 minutes is squandered when the main story really gets going in the second, which is the opposite of what should happen. It all comes down to the movie’s main issue: its complete and utter failure to capitalize on its aforementioned premise. From the second act onward, Memory devolves into a generic Neeson thriller, when it so easily could’ve been a mind-bending genre film full of violence and ambiguity. I mean, an action flick about a hitman with dementia? You’d think it’d be a no-brainer. Just have the guy gradually deteriorate both mentally and physically, all the while upping the ambiguity in regard to his actions and their morality.

Instead, what we get is scene after scene of Neeson doing Neeson-y things, all in a rather straightforward way. Sure, he is occasionally forgetful, but never in a way that truly alters anything or ups the stakes. And that forgetfulness, despite all the potential it holds, is never taken advantage of in order to manufacture some level of ambiguity. It got to the stage where I had to ask myself, would Memory even be that different if Neeson’s character didn’t have Alzheimer’s? The fact that the answer is “no, probably not” is so disappointing.

The only way this version of Memory, one that’s simple and accessible, could work is if it had well-drawn villains and explosive action sequences. Unfortunately, this movie is 0 for 2 in that regard. Let’s start with the villains, who are uniformly terrible. I don’t mean terrible as in detestable; I mean they’re one-dimensional and underdeveloped.* This isn’t helped by the uniformly poor performances from the actors playing these characters, but that might be more attributable to the screenwriter and his lackluster script than anything else. Then there’s the action, which comes in short bursts, with the most prolonged sequence being a brief suppressed pistol shootout in a parking garage. The action is decently filmed, but there’s simply not enough of it. More violence, such as an extended final shootout, definitely would’ve helped compensate for this film’s dismal storytelling.

Besides a solid first act, Memory’s only other saving grace is Guy Pearce and his dedicated performance as FBI agent Vincent Serra. Pearce’s role in the film is rather substantial, so much so I’d argue that he actually co-leads with Neeson.** When we’re not following Lewis killing the bad guys, we’re following Serra on his parallel quest to bring them to justice. I wish I could say that Serra’s subplot amps up the suspense, but unfortunately it often does the opposite. It’s not Pearce’s fault, though, as he does his damnedest to bring some humanity and intellect to the dialogue and story. Sadly, he can only do so much when surrounded by poorly written supporting players and actors who can barely hold an American accent.***

There’s not much more to say about Memory, a movie with an inadequate and unambitious take on an intriguing premise. It starts off well but fails to make an impression after that. Neeson and Pearce do what they can to imbue the story with some warmth and nuance, but even they can’t make a difference. Most disappointingly, while Martin Campbell does occasionally show some of his skill, he utterly fails to craft anything nearly as entertaining as his last film, The Protégé. Unlike Neeson these days, Campbell is usually more reliable than this. It’s ironic, given the title of this movie, that both men might want to forget about this one.

If I had to score it, I’d give Memory a 4/10.

Notes:

* Monica Bellucci has the most to do in regard to the bad guys, and by that, I mean barely anything. Sure, it’s a relatively small role, but she plays it with zero charisma or panache. To be fair, her dialogue was mostly crap, but she could’ve at least thrown in some gestures or facial expressions to spice it up. I usually like her, but she was badly miscast here.

** I should also acknowledge the effort that Neeson puts into his performance as well. Pearce is notably better, but in no way does Neeson phone it in. This is probably his best performance since his one in 2019’s Cold Pursuit.

*** The only other law enforcement character that brought anything to the film was Mexican policeman Hugo Marquez, played by Harold Torres. Torres’ performance was a little stiff, but his character was likable and brought some much-needed intensity to the proceedings.