THE PHOTO WAS FORWARDED TO ME and I immediately had memories flood my brain as soon as I saw it. I had not thought about that trip in years; no, actually decades, but remembered the who, what and where of the trip. I am always amazed at the workings of the mind. How these stored memories suddenly appear in full force, like a spotlight, into one’s consciousness; it is fascinating. From that one photo, I was able to remember the place I stayed at, the time of year and the various sights I visited while there. Truthfully, if I had not seen that one photo I do not know if I would have ever recalled that vacation. And that is the other aspect of stirred memories I enjoy experiencing; that random trigger that sets off the memory like a firecracker. For example, just recently I had a lunch date with a few family members. I had found this new food item at the store and thought the relatives would enjoy trying them. Buying a few different flavors, I put them out on the dining room table when the meal was ready. As the group of people inspected the items, I brought out drinking glasses for them to give the products a try. One family member kept taking a taste from their drink. When I asked what they thought of it, they said the taste is reminding them of a different time when they were back in college drinking a mixed alcoholic beverage out of a plastic cup. How random it was; I enjoyed hearing how a past memory got ignited from a new type of drink.      JUST AS I AM FASCINATED WITH the way memories suddenly appear from random stimuli, I am also curious how some memories always stay close to the surface to steer the actions of an individual.  Many of us might have experienced buying a car that turned out to be a complete lemon. I know I did. There was a car I had that would periodically just shut off while I was driving it. I remember one time it decided to turn off in the middle of a busy intersection. There was nothing I could do because the car would not turn over. I go so fed up, I grabbed my stuff, got out, locked the car doors and walked over to the curb to call a tow service. For the next few weeks while I looked for a car, I rode a bicycle wherever I had to go. From that time, I have never bothered looking at that car manufacturer’s products when I needed to buy a car. Some memories just never fade away, like the one the main character kept having in this action, crime adventure.      AFTER AN ASSIGNMENT GETS BOTCHED UP, a well-honed assassin discovers she has a short time to live before she dies. She only has one thing on her mind. With Mary Elizabeth Winstead (Birds of Prey, 10 Cloverfield Lane) as Kate, Woody Harrelson (The Hunger Games franchise, Out of the Furnace) as Varrick, relative newcomer Miku Patricia Martineau as Ani, Tadanobu Asano (Thor franchise, Battleship) as Renji and Jun Kunimura (Kill Bill franchise, The Naked Director-TV) as Kijima; this story was a mix of previous film stories I have seen. There seems to be a recent smattering of movies with female killers. I have enjoyed seeing them and in fact, this film reminded me of a cross between John Wick, Atomic Blonde and Crank. Kate did an admirable job of acting and fighting in this role; however, the script was generic, without much depth and character development. There was a stylized flair in the look of this picture, but it did not have that extra punch, so to speak, to make this a great movie. The bottom line here is I might remember Mary Elizabeth’s performance, but I doubt I will remember this movie after a short time.

2 stars