Memento, as complex as it can get.

Rating: 8/10 (26 March 2014)

This movie has been praised by a lot of people on the internet. But my question is: is it really a 10 star-movie or has it been over-hyped?
Memento is a movie about Leonard, a man with severe memory loss. He tries remembering things by photos and putting notes all over the place even tattoos on his body. Christopher Nolan tries to confuse the audience in a way just like Leonard is confused by his amnesia. He uses two separate story lines, the first goes back in time and the second one travels forward in time, the 2 alternate continuously. Actually you can follow the story quite well but it's weird and this is still a unique kind of storytelling although the movie was released back in 2000.
Guy Pierce does a great job playing the confused Leonard, you really pity him when he is being fooled by some obscure characters like Natalie. Carrie-Ann Moss plays that bitch in a credible way, which makes you like Leonard just that bit more. The actors in general are not extraordinary, more like good. Unlike Christopher Nolan and his editing team which I really admire for their superb performance, they are the real stars of the movie. For Instance: Something odd happens in the one story line and the when the other story line is happening you can connect things that are taking place to that odd event.(Even describing this movie is complicated) It's incredible how they can make such a complex format 'understandable' towards the audience. But it's still quite hard to fully understand the movie, especially the ending. Most people (like me) will not fully understand it, you have to watch an explanation video or watch Memento again. Probably this was on purpose, but in my opinion this is something negative.
There's plenty of action for a movie of the mystery genre. If you liked Inception or Shutter Island, you will definitely find this one interesting. But I prefer those over Memento just because the acting was better. Leonardo DiCaprio was the star in both so it's not really surprising. If you want some light entertainment you should rather watch The Expendables or Harry Potter, which are nice in their own ways.
So is it a 10 star movie? As you have probably already seen: No. It's a great movie and It has some unique aspects. But it also has some flaws like the ending and one or two times I was a bit bored. Because of these 2 flaws I give it 8 stars. This is still a good rating and the movie deserves it.

Jonas De Maeseneer