Memory Review: Liam Neeson's Latest Action Flick Is Another Uninspired Taken
Taken, Liam Neeson’s first official foray into this new phase of his career as an action star, was released in 2009. It may not feel like it was 13 years ago because Neeson has made some version of the same movie every year since, and they have been increasing in number as of late. His latest action flick, Memory — adapted from the novel De Zaak Alzheimer (The Alzheimer Case) and directed by Martin Campbell from a screenplay by Dario Scardapane — follows Neeson as an aging assassin who begins to lose his memories and who possesses a particular set of skills and decides to go after horrible people. The synopsis sounds straightforward, but there is a lack of balance from the start, and the film has an ill-mannered approach to telling a sensitive or impactful story about sex trafficking.
In the first 30 minutes, Memory proves to be a lot. Alex (Neeson), a contract killer, is hired to kill a few key witnesses/participants of a crime syndicate. This contract intersects with Guy Pearce’s Vincent Sera, an FBI agent hellbent on bringing down human trafficking. The two are connected by one key witness, who Vincent wants to save, and Alex is hired to kill. Memory hosts two competing stories that struggle to mesh. There is, of course, the story of Alex, the assassin with memory loss, and then a bigger story regarding some heavy topics.
Related: Memory (2022) & 9 Other Must-Watch Liam Neeson Movies For New Fans
The film suffers from a series of clichés and tropes. Guy Pearce plays the honorable FBI agent, while his screen partner, Taj Atwal, plays the foul-mouth and sassy lone woman agent. Ray Fearon plays the hard-ass Black agent who gives Vincent a hard time by playing with FBI’s politics. Harold Torres plays a Mexican agent who
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