Memento (2000)

From the people who did not bring you such a summer flop as Tomb Raider, a film that does not feature high priced actors like The Mummy Returns, a film that no one seemed to herald because it was well written, well directed and well acted in a summer of Check-Your-Brain-At-The-Door movies, comes Memento.

Alright this is the deal. Guy Pearce (the skinny guy with glasses from LA Confidential) plays Leonard Shelby, a man avenging the death and rape of his wife. Seems simple, right? Well, hold on, Laura Croft. When Leonard's wife is attacked he is hit in the head causing a rare but very factual condition that stops him from having any short term memory. The last thing he remembers is the incident and nothing that happens afterward. To remember things he takes Polaroid pictures of things and tatoos information on his body. Rounding out the cast are Carrie-Anne Moss and Joe Pantoliano both from the film the Matrix.

So what's so great about this film? Well other than there being no apes, dinosaurs or Taco Bell promotional tie-ins, the film is shot from the end and runs backwards to the begining. So the first thing you see is Pearce shooting Pantoliano in the head and then taking a Polaroid of the dead body. Now the audience becomes Leonard Shelby, not knowing what happened before that. Brilliant.

Are there any negative points to the movie? Only the fact that I had never even heard of it until a friend recommended it to me. I hadn't seen any of the actors on the late night circuit or even seen the trailer on TV. Summer movies seemed to be reserved only for over budgeted crap or the typical stand-by, I-use-to-be-on-SNL-and-I-have-another-retarded-movie-where-all-the-funny-scenes-are-on-the-trailer movie. Memento isn't like that, lucky for me I caught it at the cheap theatre.

In closing, I recommend all of you who didn't see Memento, which should be just about everybody, to buy faster cars and go over to your local cheap theatre and see this film before it leaves!