Amazon.com essential video: Guy Pearce (L.A. Confidential) and Joe Pantoliano (The Matrix) shine in this absolute stunner of a movie. Memento combines a bold, mind-bending script with compelling action and virtuoso performances. Pearce plays Leonard Shelby, hunting down the man who raped and murdered his wife. The problem is that "the incident" that robbed Leonard of his wife also stole his ability to make new memories. Unable to retain a location, a face, or a new clue on his own, Leonard continues his search with the help of notes, Polaroids, and even homemade tattoos for vital information.
Because of his condition, Leonard essentially lives his life in short, present-tense segments, with no clear idea of what's just happened to him. That's where Memento gets really interesting; the story begins at the end, and the movie jumps backward in 10-minute segments. The suspense of the movie lies not in discovering what happens, but in finding out why it happened. Amazingly, the movie achieves edge-of-your-seat excitement even as it moves backward in time, and it keeps the mind hopping as cause and effect are pieced together.
Pearce captures Leonard perfectly, conveying both the tragic romance of his quest and his wry humor in dealing with his condition. He is bolstered by several excellent supporting players, and the movie is all but stolen from him by Pantoliano, who delivers an amazing performance as Teddy, the guy who may or may not be on his side. Memento has an intriguing structure and even meditations on the nature of perception and meaning of life if you go looking for them, but it also functions just as well as a completely absorbing thriller. It's rare to find a movie this exciting with so much intelligence behind it. --Ali Davis
A Fantastic Film I see that some reviewers have given away a bit more of the story than I would have, but this does save me the trouble of recapping anything.
I'll just say that it's every bit the "instant classic thriller" promised on the DVD cover, that it's both full of action and mentally stimulating, and that I will watch it again, which I've never said about a "thriller" before. I'm also looking forward to watching the bonus DVD once I've let a little time pass, just to satisfy my curiosity.
Oh yeah, and notice how the majority of us are giving this 5-star reviews. There's a reason we do that.
An Amazing Movie I bought this DVD because I am a CSI/GSR fanatic. I run the GSRForeverLove wiki and tend to collect anything I can get with Jorja Fox or William Petersen. So, I had to own this film, boy I am glad I do.
The film is a hard one to 'get' the first time around, and I am not even going to get into the plot, except to say, it's original. I was enthralled from the start. Guy Pierce is amazing and delivers an outstanding performance. Nothing new there, I've seen him in other films.
My main reason for buying this was Jorja Fox, and even though her time in the film is short, she leaves a great impression, and the film is all about her.
I recomend this to any mystery fan, and to each CSI/GSR/Sara fan. It's a must own for film fans as well.
Great, Riveting, Spell-binding Film noir taken in the sci fi genre maximum. Reminescent of Philip K Dick. A dark, disturbing mystery suspense film that once the story takes hold, leaves one panting for the truth...the narrator is unreliable, but as the hero we are rooting for him, and believe ultimately that he will take us to the truth...Remember Sam Jenkins!
Good non-formulaic thriller Hard to explain the plot of this movie without revealing spoilers, so I'll just say Memento is definitely worth a view, maybe two. I do not watch a lot of mainstream movies, mostly because I don't feel like distilling the small amount of good material from the enormous volume of waste that is released into the theaters. But Memento was a terrific exception to the rule, and the filmmakers didn't even have to use special effects as a crutch since the story was compelling.
Astounding movie! I first saw this movie at the theater when it caem out back in 2001 and I was astounded by it's creativity, and I couldn't wait till it came available on video so that I could watch it as many times as I wanted, and believe me I've seen it a lot. But there were still some things that I just seemed to be missing, but now that I've got the DVD showing the movie in it's chronological order, it now makes so much more sense to me. Ever since getting the new release I've researched the movie deeply and the amount of things that I've found that goes way past the end is staggering but interesting. If any one is interested in e-mailing me to further discuss this astounding movie, please feel free.
Anything Goes Trivia
Megaton Man
Tailipoe
Trevor
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