Great and Entertaining Film ... with some crucial flaws.

Rating: 9/10 (17 February 2012)

"Memento" is more of an evolutionary film than revolutionary, adding a slightly different dimension to what other films have already done before, such as "Pulp Fiction", in presenting it out of chronological sequence, with two different running stories, one going forward in time and the other backwards, relating the story of a man with a memory condition unable to create new memories and seeking vengeance for the murder and rape of his wife.
"Memento" is an extremely entertaining movie for those that like a film that makes them think a bit, and though many people would regard Christopher Nolan as just using a gimmick of using reverse chronological order to cover up what would be a pretty boring plot,this is a pretty foolish remark as Christopher Nolan designed the whole film specifically so that it could be portrayed backwards, hence no-one should even consider if the plot would be just as good if played in chronological order as the whole structure of the story would've been different to accommodate such a change. However, "Memento" still has some major flaws that I feel really hold it back from being a truly great film. Though the film does engage the viewer's interest through the suspense built up before, it would have held the viewer's interest much better if the central character was someone that the viewer could feel sympathy for, making them want to know what happens to him, which would have made the twist at the end far more unexpected. As well as this it can be seen that at the end, no matter how many different answers people may come up with to try and cover these questions up, there are still many unanswered questions with some unsatisfactory answers to others which was not Nolan's intention as he himself said that all the answers should be within the film. But though many other people would describe it as being riddled with plot holes there aren't many, if any, of these, such as the common misconception that he shouldn't even be able to remember that he has Anterograde Amnesia, which is actually untrue as can be seen with real-life patients who have the condition. The acting is pretty good throughout, especially from Joey Pantoliano and Guy Pearce who really perform their roles amazingly well, giving very convincing performances.
Overall, the whole movie should serve as a highly enjoyable and novel movie (although some people may find it slightly dull or hard to keep up with, and the main character a bit expressionless), with an extremely absorbing narrative structure and plot that'll keep your eyes glued to the screen, with a great twist at the end that should make it, all in all, a really worthwhile movie.