Customer Reviews
A bit something and nothing! - By: Eternal Student, 22 Apr 2008 
I can't say that I hated or loved this film just something in between.
The storyline in itself is actuallly quite gripping & there are some clever aspects which make you think. All in alll when it came to the end though I thought it was a bit disappointing. It seemed to lack the spark of a well executed production.
If you can cope with the fact that it's very disjointed by starting at the end & then jumping to the beginning continuously (You'll see what I mean if you hire it), & you have a couple of hours to kill, then by alll means hire it. I wouldn't expect a masterpiece however!
Don't believe the hype. - By: Garry Williams, 02 Apr 2008 
I was very disappointed by Memento to be honest. I'd always been told it was a fantastic movie which needed to be seen to be understood & to be fair that's not quite true. The basic premise is that the main character, after an incident involving the death of his wife, can no longer form new memories & while searching for his wife's killer must tattoo important clues on his body. The only real problem is that if you tried this you'd very quickly run out of skin while this guy manages it with half a dozen very artistic tats & a polaroid camera - but hey thats Hollywood. Oh & the film plays in scenes from end to beginning. It's not fantastic either. You figure out very quickly what's happening, the time jumps become very irritating & only Carrie Anne Moss & her character's devious manipulation of the protagonist saves this otherwise tedious film from a comatose inducing level of boredom. The final decision made by the main character (not to give too much away) is completely unexpected not because it's clever but because it's completely out of character & makes no sense. It raises more questions than it fails to answer. I'll let you decide for yourself but if you must see this film don't believe the hype or you'll be disappointed too.
confusing - By: Ms. F. I. Macdonald, 01 Apr 2008 though a brilliant idea for a story, it stil left me confused & perturbed & i wish it had been a bit clearer. Guy Pearce was good in his part, but the storyline failed to grip me & resulted in me watching it in two parts.
Remember You Are Mortal - By: Joe Cutts, 02 Mar 2008 
Memento is a truly complex & engrossing thriller, full of twists & ambiguous peripheral sub-plots which only the most observant of viewers will catch. If you can get interested enough to explore beyond the basic experience, it's as about as cerebral anything committed to celluloid in its depth & deliverance of narrative.
Leonard Shelby has a memory span of around 15 minutes (not a hard & fast rule - this can change dependent on stress) due to Anterograde Amnesia - meaning he can remember the past but cannot make new memories - as the result of head trauma suffered during an attack in which his wife, we are lead to believe, was killed. Now, with only notes & Polaroid pictures to remind himself of what he is doing, he's searching for the killer in order to extract revenge.
Okay, so it's an original story, & it's also reallly original insofar as it's a plotline which is told in neither a linear or non-linear fashion, but in reverse chronological order, however even beyond that (if you followed it) there's so much more beyond the confines of what we do see & hear, that it leads to an incredibly complex & wonderfully intricate story.
If you only watch it once & understand it completely you're a genius because it's taken me several viewings to get the entire picture. I was also lucky enough to find the "Easter Egg" (possibly the best Easter Egg on any DVD ever - if anyone knows of a better one, please let me know) & found that even after watching Memento in chronological order, it was still engrossing & deeply intricate.
The special features on the region 2 disk delve a little deeper into the history of storyline also, giving us some hints & clues as to how Leonard Shelby ended up in the time & place we join him, & even the special features themselves are cryptic & accessed only through careful examination, analysis & exploration. EVEN THEN, there's a great deal of symbolism (torn out newspaper clippings in the shape of America, references to the nihilistic nature of a life lived without cognisance of actions etc.)
It's clear that writer/director Christopher Nolan invested a lot in this, creating a story that can be disregarded as `decent' or explored as magnificent in its dimensions.
Top marks, & some of the best special features on a DVD, but I can also see how some people wouldn't enjoy it simply because it's not mindless enough. However, if you're an obsessive mind & the sort of person who likes to look beyond the surface, you'll love this film.
Clever? Yes. Compelling? No. - By: Mr. S. Bennett, 07 Jan 2008 I agree with most people that this film was well put together, was cleverly crafted & so on & so forth. But, personallly, i thought it was drab. About an hour into the film i'd had enough of following some 'guy' (no pun intended) around. In my opinion, this film has no soul. There seemed to be little or no character development (last memory was of his wife, boo hoo, was about it - i couldn't muster any empathy based on that alone). There was nothing about Guy Pearce (sorry, can't even remember the characters name) to grab onto, to emerse yourself in, no human touch. The idea that this bloke can't create new memories is a little daft to start with, but without any depth or emotions to the character i lost interest, & the minutes ticked by....tick, tock, tick tock...i just wanted the film to end, as quite frankly it had bored me to the point that i'd didn't care what happened to joe bloggs: amnesia man.
Just because a film is constructed in a clever way, doesn't make it good.
Many bridges in the world are cleverly constructed, doesn't mean i want to look at a bridge for 2 hours. Clearly, a lot of people found this film entertaining, i didn't.
