Typical high-quality but hopelessly commercial flick...

Rating: 6/10 (27 May 2001)

I sincerely fail to understand the enthusiasm of the fans of "Memento". I can imagine that something is wrong with my attitude, but could please somebody explain to me what they really find in there? The idea of a man without a short-term memory is not bad: this could be a wonderful chance to comment on the world, reality, time, out living in time and our representations of it: on the whole multitude of questions that were the focal point of the thoughts and works of philosophers and artists for millenia. Do the creators of this movie even try to do that? No - the story never strays away from a long-trodden path of a sturdy commercial thriller-mystery. Yes, yes - reverse order, unknown past instead of unknown future etc., but this all looks to me like using a statue as a hammer. What makes you think about anything in this movie: some reviewers claim to go on thinking about it for days - about what? If you really want some deep insights into the nature of time and memory, try Immanuil Kant or Upanishads - don't try to get them from this source.
Now after all that I cannot deny that this is a well-made mystery film, the actors are really good, the suspense is there, and it's quite worthy of a higher-than-average review. But that's it, no use to read into it more than is there.