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“Unfolding in the style of Memento,” begin the press notes for Simon Brand’s freshman effort, which also reveals the “style” of Reservoir Dogs and Saw. What it cribs from Christopher Nolan’s film (aside from actor Joe Pantoliano) is the desperate screenwriter’s device of memory loss, but whereas Nolan concentrated on form, Matthew Waynee’s script favors formula: why saddle just one character with amnesia when you can give it to them all? Five bloodied men awake in a locked warehouse, with no knowledge of who they are or how they got there. Deprived of actual personalities (the credits identify characters by traits rather than names), the mostly B-list actors overemote, but if you thrive on plot, there are many here, twisting and turning straight through the final fade. Still, miscasting hurts: gaunt Jim Caviezel (remember him as Jesus?) is referred to as a “fat fuck” and Greg Kinnear fails to play tough as “fuck your mother.” What is known: a derivative video release masquerades as a film.
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