The Memory of a Killer

Overly stylish but conspicuously short on logic at critical moments, the only thing separating this assassin thriller from its Hollywood brethren is the fact that the characters speak in Dutch. The Memory of a Killer is a cat-and-mouser about an aging hired gun whose struggle with Alzheimer's is turning his mind cloudy and dangerously unstable. When he realizes his latest target is a little girl, the killer's long-dormant conscience is triggered, and he bucks the assignment, trying to steer a generically hunky cop (Koen De Bouw) toward a climactic showdown with a much bigger fish: a wealthy baron whose child-molester son wanted the girl dead. The ominously hulking Jan Decleir gives a potent performance in the title role (winning Best Actor at the Belgian film awards), drifting between a feeble old man and chillingly instinctual killer, but director Erik Van Looy opts for a flashy, high-tech American glossy look, while ignoring highly unlikely coincidences and intelligence-insulting plot devices. Granted, this is no worse than your average big-budget, big-studio cop drama (an American remake can't be far off), but that's damning with faint praise indeed. Not a necessary purchase. [Note: DVD extras include a 21-minute behind-the-scenes featurette (21 min.), a six-minute “A Night to Remember” segment on the film's premiere, and trailers. Bottom line: a small extras package for an uneven film.] (R. Blackwelder)