Great film with a great plot twist

Rating: 8/10 (23 February 2016)

A critical review of a film I liked.
I saw this film when it came out and rewatched it again, knowing what the twist was. It is a great film, but once the twist is revealed, there's not much else in it.
There aren't memorable or iconic shots, locations or scenes, memorable or quotable lines or dialogues, soundtrack or strong characters. The timeline doesn't allow for much character development, but characters are still one dimensional - they are who they are and that's about it. We only get to see a thin slice of time, so don't expect character growth or change, but one could still expect strong, unique, memorable characters. There's none of that.
There isn't much of a sub-plot or other threads competing for our attention or making the story deeper or more complex.
The locations were also anonymous. Everything is there just to serve the twist. There is nothing more, nothing less. It would've been interesting to be lead to a false conclusion before the reveal, or have elements that raise doubt or debate in the viewer's mind - there's none of that.
My biggest complaint is that the film is not that enjoyable for the duration of the film, except the ending. If one were to leave before the end, he would not have enjoyed the film at all, whereas that is not the case in most films. As someone who rewatched it knowing the ending, parts of it felt boring.
This was not a great film with a twist at the end, but a great twist with an okay film at the start. I never find myself googling quotes from the film, searching youtube for great scenes from it, don't remember the soundtrack at all.
Compare this with Fight Club or Inception, where the soundtrack, characters, scenes, events and lines have such a lasting impact on viewers. But those are different films with bigger budgets, so I'm not penalizing Memento for that. I'm penalizing it for not being very enjoyable without the ending.
I still give it an 8/10 because although it does one thing, it does it very, very well.