- Release date: 04/29/2022
- spit: Liam Neeson, Jay Pearce, Monica Bellucci, Ray Stevenson
- Director: Martin Campbell
I’ve been a Liam Neeson fan ever since I got freaked out Taken (Pierre Morel, 2008). It was somewhat of a standard for me and my friends during our college days and every time there was a new action movie on the blocks there was only one question – is it as good as taken? Neeson starred in a series of sequels to taken Which gradually got worse. boosted by success takenOther directors used the film’s basic formats In their own stories unfolded in cities, planes, trains, trucks and even icy hells. Neeson kept his passion in these renditions and in each of these films, he was the best thing about all of them.
unfortunately with memoryI feel like Neeson’s personality and character I was born with taken They finally reached their end. When he was killed in the movie, it felt like it marked the end of the on-screen character as it did with the recurring characters that Neeson has been playing in various forms since Brian Mills’ kidnapper threatened on the phone and turned him on his threat.
at memory, Neeson plays a skilled killer, Alex Lewis who is hired by the infamous Davana Silman (Monica Bellucci) to shut down all loose ends that point to a heinous crime committed by her son. Things go wrong for Alex when he has to kill a child as part of the contract. He decides not to kill her which leads to his superiors sending replacement killers. Alex has a degenerative brain condition and is unable to remember things properly. This leads to some interesting situations where he lands one pan after another while trying to bail out of his knots and also ensure the safety of the child.
Vincent (Jay Pearce) is hot on the tails of a human trafficking racket and all his clues lead him to the same kid Alex was trying to save. As he delves into the case, he realizes it’s a little clog in a big machine that includes some of the biggest names in town. As Vincent tries to understand the game and identify the players, Alex takes out player after player for his own reasons. Vincent gets confused if Alex is standing by his side or just tying loose ends to actual villains.
memory It has just enough in terms of story and intrigue to keep the audience interested and invested but my issue with the movie was its handling and how to approach the story. Much of it was about men and that too in a more general way with no novelty or creativity in the sequence to merit some attention and intrigue from viewers. Martin Campbell is known for his creativity, pace, style, and physical handling of action sequences but none of these elements could be seen in his presentation. memory.
Movie speed was another issue for me. There were sequences like the one where Alex visits his brother which I felt could have been easily edited because it didn’t add anything to the story. Actions could have been sped up a bit and this would not only add a much-needed sense of urgency to the film but would also help elevate elements of the story’s thrill that have waned with the slow development of the plot.
The action sequences in the film have been toned down to match the realistic tone and setting of the film and the leading old man. Although it might make perfect sense given what the director was going after, I have to ask if it was a good idea. We connect Liam Neeson movers with elaborate set pieces and a guy who flexes his fighting muscles even when shot and tweaked in a way that leaves no room for enjoyment of the action in long, wide, sweeping shots. If not, then at least the planning and execution of the action could have been a little more detailed to elicit a certain amount of excitement and interest. Unfortunately, that is not the case here and this leads to the action of the movie being one of its weakest elements and somewhat boring.
The next issue I had with the movie was very personal and might not be a big deal to other viewers. I have a certain picture of Liam Neeson and I’ve stuck to that picture of him for as long as I can. To me, it’s a great killing machine and doesn’t put any wrong move. He is skilled in the use of weapons. He is a perfect outline and is a smooth talker who can disarm anyone with baritone and word choice. To a shock to me, in memory, all gone. He is a stuttering old man with puffy hair and a mouth full of decaying yellow teeth. It feels like someone is about to fall to death every step of the way. Even his assassinations did not work for me because he did not feel that he was a man capable of achieving such feats. I walked off the stage with a broken heart after seeing the man I respected after watching movies like taken And A walk among the tombstonesI fell apart, to the point where I hardly recognized him. While it might have been a creative choice due to the medical condition the character appeared to have, it didn’t do much to the story or plot and could have been avoided entirely.
Jay Pearce was good and in many ways the actual lead man for the movie. He did enough to not only sell his character but also his frustration and anger filled which did wonders for the story and drama that Campbell was trying to lead with his story. It is always a pleasure to see Monica Bellucci on screen, but here she did not have much to do. Fortunately, even in this diminutive look, she makes an impact but is greatly undermined by some of her character’s horrible writing.
Last but not least, the movie suffers a lot due to the lack of a strong opponent. The bad guys in the movie are only there to be directed by Alex. They don’t have personality, they don’t have skill and they don’t have any fear factor attached to them. When you have a defective novel hero trying to move forward with his medical condition, the idea of a powerful villain is always welcome as it undoubtedly heightens the hero and enhances the tension in the narrative. Martin Campbell totally missed that point somehow and gave us villains I didn’t care to remember their names. They were so general and so easily sent off by the protagonist that they never felt threatened or remembered.
To sum it all up, Martin Campbell was one man who could revitalize Neeson’s declining career, could make a powerful and elegant action, packed with strong drama, interesting characters and, above all, a charming action-packed piece synonymous with the Martin Campbell films. Unfortunately, it fails miserably in all respects and ends with a movie that does nothing to revive Neeson’s spiraling career. This is at best an average movie that boasts a star cast hanging around it.
Rating 2.5/5 (2.5 out of 5 stars)
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