kudos to the 2/3rds of a script they call a movie

Rating: 6/10 (19 December 2001)

It's a pretty cool idea. The last thing Leonard (Guy Pearce) remembers is someone killing his wife - since then he's had a head injury and has not been able to form new memories (a little like the start to Dark City). He takes pictures, makes notes, tattoos himself to try to order his life - but ultimately he does not know what he's doing. All that drives him is the desperate desire to track down the elusive 'John G.', who raped and murdered his wife. The film starts at the end of the story and works backwards (yes Raquel - backwards). The only problem is, the scriptwriters seem to have suffered the same defect as their protagonist and forgot to wrap up all the questions actually posed at the start of their script.

Just when you're thinking "This is a really clever piece of film! I have no idea what the real answer is." the screen goes blank and the credits start to roll. The story doesn't go back to who actually killed his wife, and dodges with some philosophy about 'who are we if we don't have our memories' - which is nice, but not strong or original enough to justify the weak script. Plus, this philosophical point is not exactly proven by the sudden ending - it would have been just as strong with some answers to the plot.
Like: Who is Teddy? Why is he really involved? Was Leonard actually caught up with the other characters before his wife died? Why does he have two, apparently contradictory, sets of memories? Just a couple of big holes that lower the quality of what had the potential to be a really brilliant film. Still kudos to the acting, directing, and the 2/3rds of the script that they call a movie.