The Memory of a Killer initially seems a bit interesting. Koen De Bouw is an undercover cop trying to bust a child prostitution gig. His path crosses with that of Jan Declair, an assassin with early symptoms of Alzheimer's. Memento showed quite compellingly the multitude of dilemmas that would be present for solving a puzzle without a memory. Instead here we get a generally competent but not particularly engaging formula film of a tortured cop and a tortured villain, each out to solve the same case. One does it because it's his job and the other, well, we don't really know, maybe some childhood thing. Nonetheless the assassin will ruthlessly and quickly kill innocent folks, but not a teenager. While it's true that moral boundaries are at some level arbitrary, it still seems odd that someone that has exactly zero problems offing folks would hesitate just because of the age if the target.
Declair is hired to smite a few people involved in the blackmail of a powerful family. As the bodies start to pile up De Bouw starts to investigate. Lots of dead bystanders and contrived twists later we end up with an unlikely alliance. That alliance is threatened continually by the number of face to face showdowns between the protagonists. How often must they be in contact? Director Erik Van Looy gives Declair's fading recall an interesting look as the assassin's confused and indecisive look reappears whenever trying to figure the next course of action. That alone though, is not enough to break the mold.
Alternating between amusing and annoyingly gimmicky, TMOAK could have use some judicious editing. The story is convoluted and the pieces don't add up convincingly. By the time De Bouw figures out the unlikely answer the film is a half hour past a preferable end point. It's not a poor film but with all of different American art forms to be exported, this middling formula film is one of the more unfortunate results.
Declair is hired to smite a few people involved in the blackmail of a powerful family. As the bodies start to pile up De Bouw starts to investigate. Lots of dead bystanders and contrived twists later we end up with an unlikely alliance. That alliance is threatened continually by the number of face to face showdowns between the protagonists. How often must they be in contact? Director Erik Van Looy gives Declair's fading recall an interesting look as the assassin's confused and indecisive look reappears whenever trying to figure the next course of action. That alone though, is not enough to break the mold.
Alternating between amusing and annoyingly gimmicky, TMOAK could have use some judicious editing. The story is convoluted and the pieces don't add up convincingly. By the time De Bouw figures out the unlikely answer the film is a half hour past a preferable end point. It's not a poor film but with all of different American art forms to be exported, this middling formula film is one of the more unfortunate results.