Good but not great - loses coherency towards the end

Rating: Null/10 (29 May 2001)

Memento manages to transcend above a mere "gimmick" movie into a movie experience that is quite enjoyable, but not a masterpiece. However, it is not the 9th best film of all time (it is currently #9 on imdb), nor is it even one of the best films in the past year.
Memento tries to accomplish too much, and the effect is that many things that are normally "given" in a film like this are not accomplished at all. The so-called gimmick itself is brilliant. I can't agree with people who demean the quality of this film simply because it uses a gimmick to tell the story. If one sees enough movies, one begins to appreciate unique styles of storytelling, even if the underlying plot is lacking (in this case, only slightly). Furthermore, the plot itself is generally quite enjoyable and suspenseful.
My main problem with the film, though; what separates it in my mind from great films, is that there appear to be numerous plot holes. Some can be patched with some blanket statements about memory and perception (which though they work feel cheap), but some just nag at you and make you feel cheated. The other problem, and this was really the major one for me, is that Memento seems to follow the now endless stream of movies that feel they have to surprise the viewer a lot. In some places it really works in memento. In others, you feel really cheated, as if you have watched 1 hour of viewing that is entirely invalidated by a plot twist. Initially I thought this was true of films like Fight Club and so forth, but on subsequent viewings or upon thinking further, these other films actually end up making sense. In Fight Club, in fact, once I got over the feeling of being cheated, once I watched it again, the movie was even better.

Memento, on the other hand, will not offer me much on subsequent viewings. There is no deeper meaning to most of what is there, it's all plot and intrigue. Watching it again, I would simply be looking for "aha" moments. Watching films like Fight Club, ExistenZ, Pi, Run Lola Run, the Sixth Sense, and the Usual Suspects again, I can appreciate the film still, perhaps even more. I am liberated by knowing what will happen, and able to pay attention to details more, able to see more in the plot than was there before. I can marvel at the composition of scenes, the camerawork, and so forth. Memento, on the other hand, is just what it wants to be, a mystery/suspense movie told in a unique way. It is not elevated by its method of storytelling. It does not demonstrate technical excellence (or if it does, I do not perceive it).
Stated in another way, I feel as though memento became too enveloped in its method of storytelling and need to surprise - a need that is certainly understandable if the audience's attention is to remain constant - such that the plot began to suffer towards the end. The plot became so loose that at some point I began questioning the plausibility of the story, and thinking that the main character was stupid and his method of dealing with his disability was lacking. Part of this can again be explained by blanket statements, but they can also be explained by loose writing.