‘MEMORY’ Rated R

There’s no giving up when it comes to Liam Neeson playing the lead role in action thrillers, and ‘Memory’ is no exception when it comes to calling the actor seemingly sans age to demonstrate the required physical strength.

However, the stereotype of Neeson, the action figure who has gained traction since his role as the revenge hero in the first “Taken” film, is upended this time as Alex Lewis, a professional hitman. suffering from incipient dementia.

Not straying too far from his vengeful vigilante screen persona, Neeson’s character is a villain with scruples, meaning he has no qualms about killing sex traffickers or businessmen. sleazy, but draws the line on the most vulnerable.

Our first glimpse of Alex’s trade and his diminished mental capacity is a grisly blow in a Mexican hospital, followed by his predicament of remembering where he put his car keys for a quick getaway.

As an assassin working on both sides of the Texas-Mexico border, Alex’s failing memory is cause for retirement, but he’s persuaded to take one last job because, even though he’s not stated, he still possesses “a particular set of skills”.

Unable to resist the insistence of his contact in Mexico City offering a large wad of cash for another job, Alex is assigned to kill two people in El Paso, which happens to be his home territory.

The first job is to eliminate wealthy businessman Ellis van Camp (Scot Williams) and retrieve the USB drive stored in his safe. Completing this part of the mission is easy to complete.

Upon discovering that the second victim is 13-year-old Beatriz (Mia Sanchez), who had been pimped by her father (Antonio Jaramillo) to the legitimate son of a top developer, Alex won’t kill a child.

Meanwhile, undercover FBI agent Vincent Serra (Guy Pierce) is determined to end child sexual abuse, along with his partner Linda Amistead (Taj Atwal) and Mexican cop Hugo Marquez (Harold Torres).

Davana Sealman (Monica Bellucci), the famous real estate mogul, and her depraved son Randy (Josh Taylor), run a sordid criminal enterprise of drugs and sex trafficking of minors.

In connection with corrupt officials, the villainous Sealman has a large following in El Paso for his nefarious efforts, so local detective Danny Mora (Ray Stevenson) fends off FBI Agent Serra’s dogged pursuit of justice.

For her part, Alex isn’t deterred from going after Sealman even though she’s protected by lawmen and an inept district attorney thwarts the FBI agents’ determination to bring down Sealman’s sex ring. .

There may be a turf war between the El Paso authorities and the feds, but Alex deals with dispatching the thugs not so easily apprehended by Serra’s crew even when his memory begins to fade.

An interesting twist is that Serra is so focused on breaking Sealman’s sex ring that he finds himself in the predicament of lining up with Alex in taking down the sleazebags.

Arguably, “Memory” is the type of action thriller that might have been more appropriate for a streaming service or direct-to-video, even if it’s better than Neeson’s recent “Blacklight.”

Nonetheless, “Memory” is a usable B-movie that delivers the action goodies Liam Neeson fans crave, even if it offers temporary fun before it finally hits a memory hole.

FOREIGN FILMS ON DVD

Proving that action films don’t have to be homegrown, ‘Indemnity’, due out May 10, is South Africa’s most ambitious thrill ride, packed with stylishly choreographies, car crashes, explosions and daring rescues.

Traumatized ex-Cape Town firefighter Theo Abrams (Jarrid Geduld) wakes up next to his wife’s corpse, with no memory of what happened and all the evidence points to him as the killer.

Branded as the prime suspect, Theo quickly finds himself hunted by sinister forces and a ruthless deputy police chief and embarks on a frantic mission to uncover the truth behind his wife’s death.

As the former firefighter struggles to survive, connections are revealed between his past, the mysterious death of his wife, and a government plot with terrifying implications.

New to the genre, lead actor Jarrid Geduld spent three months with stunt masters and performed all of his own stunts, including a record-breaking overhead stunt performed outside a 21st-floor window.

In 1969, the Norwegian government announced the discovery of one of the world’s largest oil fields in the nearby North Sea, which launched a prosperous period of offshore drilling.

The disaster of ‘The Burning Sea’ comes fifty years later, when a fissure opens up on the ocean floor causing a platform to collapse and it becomes clear that these actions would have consequences. environmental.

When a team of searchers, including submarine operator Sofia (Kristine Kujath Thorp), rush to search for the missing and assess the damage, they discover that this is just the beginning of a possible doomsday disaster.

As the rigs are evacuated, Sofia’s beloved companion Stian (Henrik Bjelland) becomes trapped in the depths of the sea, and she must attempt one last measure of rescue by diving for a rescue.

Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.