Riveting, different, satisfying

Rating: Null/10 (18 June 2001)

Went to see this when I noticed it at number 12 all-time on the IMDb list. Figured I'd vote it low just to get realistic. Nope. Just have to give this a 9 or 10.
Don't miss the first few minutes of the film. You're going to sit there for two hours that will fly like fifteen minutes. You'll be just as desperate as Guy Pierce's character to make sense out of what is happening around him. The resolution of the plot is totally satisfying and makes perfect sense within the context of the movie.
Pierce is absolutely incredible as he, with no short term memory, spins and wanders desperately confused through the story searching for those who raped and murdered his wife. You're as desperate, because at the start of the film you'll watch him kill the man he thinks killed his wife. Pierce, of course, has forgotten the kill - and the story takes you back piece by piece in time to see if he got the right man.
One critic condemned the technique of moving backward in time in the movie. And, like the critic, I've seen the technique before and did not care for it. But here it leaves the viewer with effectively no short-term memory, just like the main character. People walk into his life and recognize him, you can tell, but he and you both have no idea who that person is. Can they be trusted? Why do they know him? You feel as frustrated and suspicious of everybody as he does. Tremendously well done.