For this movie I will say that from the very first scene you are gripped and sucked into the plot line. For this movie I will also say, the character acting and plot structure seemed to be somewhat lackluster.

Leonard (Guy Pearce) is an ex-insurance investigator whose wife has been brutally raped and murdered sometime in the past, and he had experienced some severe head trauma leading to his current condition of short-term memory loss, or Anterograde Amnesia. He’s on a warpath against the person who committed this heinous act, trying to find out who it was, and to help him do so, he takes pictures of important places or people, and even tattoos different reminders across his chest. He has many of them written backwards so they can be easily read in the mirror. It takes a few moments to really begin to understand the purpose of the repeat scenes and black and white scenes, until you realize that you, as a viewer, are also patching the pieces of the current crime together. The movie opens with a reverse shot of Leonard killing Teddy (Joe Pantoliano) — a person who seems to be genuinely interested in helping Leonard out in his journey, but is set up as someone who should not be trusted. You get to travel throughout the short period of time that Leonard is searching for his wife’s killer with him, learning pieces of the past in backwards order. He sets up his home base in a seedy motel room, and finds himself intertwined with some shady characters who he thinks are trying to help him. He discovers a photo of Natalie (Carrie-Ann Moss) on which he has written “she will help you out of pity.” This sentence has an air of hostility in it, yet he seems to trust her even without his memory.

Natalie seems to be mixed up with some drug dealers and shows herself in a very selfish way. She doesn’t seem to truly be interested in helping Leonard to avenge his wife’s death, rather she seems to have ideas of her own to make an innocent and brain-damaged person to do her dirty work for her. She is pointing her finger the entire time at Teddy, who is somehow involved with her group of drug-dealers, but to me it was never clear how, even after everything is unraveled at the end. It’s hard to tell who to believe and who not to believe, and gets quite confusing.

This film has an extraordinarily dark and original plot line, but the acting is very sparse, which really took something away from my enjoyment. No, I didn’t expect over-acting, but Leonard’s dull demeanor made me feel like his heart really wasn’t in it. Man, you’re trying to avenge your wife’s brutal rape and murder, and it’s the last thing you can vividly remember before losing the ability to make any new memories! Put some pepper on it! Natalie’s character also left a lot to be desired. She was a static and flat character, and I truly didn’t trust her from the beginning although I think we’re supposed to feel some sort of comfort from her character. If this acting was intentional, it certainly wasn’t as obvious as it could have been. The ending, however, is definitely a twist. The ending is actually the beginning, considering the film is essentially in rewind.

This seemed like it would have been a great idea…on paper. But it didn’t make for any sort of a thriller in my eyes, perhaps because the beginning is the ending and vice-versa. There isn’t any sort of “ah ha!” moment at the end when everything is revealed; it was merely just stated and there didn’t seem to be any energy behind any of it. Even the scene where he’s recalling his wife’s murder was lacking energy or speed. That could be attributed to the fact that there is barely any soundtrack to really drive the scenes home, but instead there are merely some soft, simple songs in the background of some choice scenes.

With that said, I’m glad I watched it, but I don’t think I’d watch it again. Interesting story; poor production. I’d love to see a different movie of the same plot with different actors!