An Incomprehensible Film

Rating: 2/10 (15 June 2003)

How can "Memento" be ranked the 12th film of all-time by IMDB viewers/raters? I agree that the film is extremly well-crafted, imaginative and stylish - but that does does make it a top-ranked film.
Above all, a film must first have a compelling plot/story-line (which "Momento" has) but it must be presented in some fashion that the viewer can reasonably hope to understand. If it doesn't, then the film must convey its message to the viewer through visual and sound impact. "Memento" is only average in the latter approach.
Frankly, this movie is just plain incomprehensible and fails miserably because of it. I tried to understand it, but after awhile one reachs the "I just don't care about these characters anymore" point and gives up. A truly great film must be outstanding in all facets of filmmaking and must be able to communicate its message to the general audience. "Memento" fails on this count.
When people rate films (as with any other rating exercise that spans a long time period), they tend to remember and focus only on that which is "fresh" in their mind - in this case, recent films while forgetting and failing to keep the current film in proper perspective against the many, many truly great films of the past.
While an interesting film, "Memento" by no means deserves to be in the IMDB Top 250 films of all time.