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List Price: $14.94 | | Label: Sony Pictures
Salesrank: 2087
Released: September 4, 2001 |
| Our Price: $5.89 |
| Used Price: $1.98 |
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MPAA Rating: R (Restricted)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
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
Memento Reviews:
Paranoid Polaroid 
2009-11-09 - Memento is a fascinating study of memory and how it shapes our reality. It also explores the way in which some people will readily exploit the misfortune of others. Christopher Nolan has crafted an inventive psychological thriller that keeps the viewer guessing right up until the final scene. Guy Pierce gives a nicely measured performance and is supported by a solid cast. It's an enjoyable challenge to rewind the movie in your head, as you watch, in order to keep track of the reversed narrative. And the pay-off at the end is also quite satisfying. There may be some suspect logic along the way but this doesn't detract from what is a very satisfying movie.
Don't waste your time watching this flick 
2009-11-08 - All i can say is this movie is boring and very disappointing. Now i know why there wasn't a rent option. Terrible.
NOLAN'S other CLASSIC for the AGES 
2009-10-17 - TAXI DRIVER good . even the DARK KNIGHT can't get you here . genius(s) . a true collaboration with his biological brothers in vision .
Great movie - bad BD 
2009-10-02 - I purchased 2 years ago, about the same time I bought my PS3. Movie is great so I decided to watch again recently and no movie doesn't run. No scratches, same PS3, 2nd time taken out of box. Perhaps this is a Lionsgate issue cause same thing happened with American Psycho.
edge-of-the-couch engrossed
2009-09-22 - Guy Pearce stars as Leonard, a man who's lost his short-term memory and uses notes and tattoos to help him hunt down the man who murdered his wife. From the first minute of this thing I was hooked, held in trance for two hours until it ended...or should I say began? Employing a relatively unique approach to storytelling in a movie, Memento begins at the end and then works slowly backwards, kind of taking two steps back for every step forward. While initially somewhat disconcerting, it's eventually revealed to be a wondrously effective method that, to an extent, mirrors some of the confusion felt by Leonard. Because Leonard forgets information he knew the day before or even minutes before, the backward storytelling mechanism is able to function effectively for us, as information he knew at the beginning of events is not revealed to us until the end. Leonard's condition resultant from a head injury he suffered trying to save his wife--he writes everything down. However, his memories from before the incident are mostly intact, something that is both curse and blessing as memories of his lost wife--his lost life--torment and drive him. He prints notations on Kodak snapshots to retain photographic evidence for himself of, for example, which car is his, which hotel he's staying at, the people he knows--both the ones he believes are helping him and the ones he believes are not. The most crucial information he has tattooed on his body, and his entire body is crosshatched with inked information--clues to remember what has happened, what he's doing, vital information on the suspect he's pursuing--the most chilling of which is written backwards on his chest so he can read it in the mirror. Joe Pantoliano and Carrie-Anne Moss have absolutely killer roles and performances as supporting characters, and Guy Pearce's portrayal of Leonard is convincing beyond all measure. I was edge-of-the-couch engrossed in this, itching to find out what was what, who was who, and the twisting revelations gradually revealed along the way never ceased to intrigue and affect me. Good stuff.
