Memory: Liam Neeson plays a hitman with memory problems, in another forgettable thriller

By Jim Slotek

Rating: C

This just in. In his latest movie, Liam Neeson is playing a hitman.

That could have been the lede for a dozen or more movies Neeson has starred in since he made 2008’s Taken. It was a movie he expected to come and go, and a job he took because it allowed him to hang out in Paris and drink red wine.

Instead, it has pretty much defined his latter career as an onscreen killing machine.

Can’t remember when, but we recall Liam Neeson striking this pose before.

At least the premise of his latest film, Memory, can be seen as a nod to how long he’s been doing this (Neeson will be 70 in June). In Memory, he plays an aging hitman who wants to retire as he’s suffering from Alzheimer’s, and so must write the names of his intended victims on his arm. Here’s hoping he writes clearly.

This is, on the face of it, an interesting premise, with plenty of room for introspection and, y’know, acting. (It’s actually a remake of a respected 2003 Belgian film, variously known in English as The Memory of a Killer, The Alzheimer Case and, yes, Memory).

But like many of the interesting ideas in this mediocre movie – including a cross-border child smuggling sex ring that reaches high places, and the notion that an abusive childhood could fuel the drive of a professional killer – the dementia aspect is glossed over. It pops up when he can’t remember where he hid evidence, or forgets where he put his car keys, or when he can’t remember the name of the woman he’s in bed with (hey, it happens).

Really, the only change-up in Neeson’s latest role is that he’s a career bad guy, albeit with a moral line somewhere between killing a Mexican gangster on behalf of his cartel bosses in front of the guy’s hospitalized mother (which he does) and killing a child who’s seen too much (which he won’t do).

Neeson’s character, Alex Lewis, is based in El Paso where he was raised, but takes orders from a Mexico City boss (Lee Boardman).

Coincidentally, El Paso is where two FBI agents, Vincent (Guy Pearce, who did a much better job with the memory premise in Memento) and Linda (Taj Atwal) and a Mexican investigator named Hugo (Harold Torres) are tracing the child smuggling trail. They land in hot water for a botched raid on a pimp-dad (Antonio Jaramillo), that leaves a young girl named Beatriz (Mia Sanchez) orphaned and a target for deportation (among other things).

The cartel’s order to kill Beatriz brings the disobedient Alex and guilt-stricken Vincent together in a dance of vengeance that plays out like a network police procedural. Memory is awash in cardboard villains, including Monica Bellucci as a ruthless CEO with side hustles, Josh Taylor as her morally dubious son and a nasty, boozy, widowed trophy wife (Natalie Anderson), who seems to exist just to fill screen-time.

Director Martin Campbell (Casino Royale) seems to be directing by template, never stopping to let us get to know anybody – least of all Neeson’s Alex, who for the most part is only there to kill people. Some things never change.

Memory. Directed by Martin Campbell. Starring Liam Neeson, Guy Pearce, Monica Bellucci. Opens in theatres Friday, April 29.