Memory (2022) * * *

 

Directed by:  Martin Campbell

Starring:  Liam Neeson, Guy Pearce, Monica Bellucci, Mia Sanchez, Harold Torres, Ray Stevenson, Stella Stocker

Memory may appear on its surface as the latest of Liam Neeson's string of the "hero with the particular set of skills" films.   However, Memory is better than that because it doesn't strictly focus on Neeson and his kicking everyone's ass he encounters.   Neeson's better movies of late such as Cold Pursuit and Run All Night had involving plots with multiple characters getting the chance to take center stage and solid supporting performances.   Memory is such a movie and it's directed with slick skill by action film veteran Martin Campbell (Casino Royale, Goldeneye)  

Neeson is Alex Lewis, a Texas born and bred (with the Irish brogue of course) assassin-for-hire with early-onset dementia called upon to do one last job before he calls it quits.   His bosses aren't aware that he sometimes forgets why he went into a room or that he may have left something incriminating at the scene of his latest killing.   His targets this time are a lawyer involved in a child prostitution ring and a twelve-year-old girl (Sanchez) who was taken into custody after a FBI agents kill her pimp father during a raid.  Alex has no qualms about killing the lawyer, but the girl is off-limits.   Someone else kills the girl, and an enraged Alex seeks vengeance by knocking off one member of the ring at a time, while keeping FBI agent Vincent Serra (Pearce) in the loop.

Neeson looks a bit less robust than usual in Memory which fits the character just fine.   He's a man whose dementia is siphoning the life from him.   He visits his older brother (also suffering from dementia and can no longer speak) in a nursing home and it's here where Memory movingly examines the hidden dimensions of its characters.   Memory loss isn't just a plot gimmick, but a real condition to be dealt with.   Even the villain, a multi-millionaire real estate developer (Bellucci) isn't necessarily seen in cut-and-dry terms.   Pearce's FBI agent Serra is weary and jaded, but still has enough caring left in him to want to avenge the death of the girl he saved from a lifetime of prostitution.

This is a movie in which law enforcement isn't viewed as corrupt or uncaring, but sometimes overwhelmed and frustrated by bureaucratic red tape and sudden shifts in departmental focus.   Alex makes it clear he's a bad guy, but not even he is immune from taking one last shot at redemption.   If you're apt to simply write off Memory as another "Liam Neeson" movie, you may want to give it a look.  The results are surprising.