I think we should already start to campaign for Martin Campbell to be in charge of the new 007 saga reboot. His was GoldenEye (1995), the first title where Pierce Brosnan incarnated the MI6 superspy James Bond, and it became a lot of fresh air in a franchise that was starting its free fall into decadence. But a decade later he also took control of the total wash-up of the main character and the style with Casino Royale (2006) probably the best Bond movie ever made, and the one that opened the gates for the reign of Daniel Craig in the character.
Although Campbell is a veteran and he’s soon-to-be in his 80s, it is proven that he is in a very good form. In the last 5 years he has delivered two intense action thrillers, first with The Foreigner (2017) with Jackie Chan as serious and dark as we’ve never seen before, and The Protégé (2021), an entertaining action movie filled up with movie stars. Now he is back with Memory (2022), another film full of spectacular sequences, lots of explosions, and a Liam Neeson delivering his action antiques as an assassin-for-hire who finds that he’s become a target after he refuses to complete a job for a dangerous criminal organization.
The movie centers on Alex Lewis, an expert assassin with a reputation for discreet precision. Caught in a moral quagmire, Alex refuses to complete a job that violates his code and must quickly hunt down and kill the people who hired him before they and FBI agent Vincent Serra find him first. Alex is built for revenge but, with a memory that is beginning to falter, he is forced to question his every action, blurring the line between right and wrong.
The movie is a remake of the Belgian awards-winner action film The Memory of a Killer (2003), De zaak Alzheimer in the original Flemish language, which was written and directed by Erik Van Looy based on a novel by Jef Geeraerts. Dario Scardapane, the writer and producer of The Punisher (2017–2019) TV series, has been in charge of adapting the screenplay.
Together with Liam Neeson playing the protagonist, Monica Bellucci, Guy Pearce, Ray Stevenson, Taj Atwal, Stella Stocker, Antonio Jaramillo, Ray Fearon, Natalie Anderson, and Rebecca Calder complete the main cast.
Memory (2022) is Rated R for violence, some bloody images, and language throughout. The movie already came out in North America and will hit European theaters this month.
Watch here the trailer for Memory (2022).
