‘Memory of a Killer’ Review: Patrick Dempsey Anchors a Familiar Assassin Tale
As Alzheimer’s symptoms begin to surface, a widowed contract killer struggles to protect his pregnant daughter from the truth about his violent profession—while his slipping mind threatens to expose him first.
In just the past few months, Eddie Redmayne, Michael Fassbender, Liam Neeson, Michael Keaton, Glen Powell, and several others have all taken a swing at the same kind of role. It’s clearly a character type that screenwriters find irresistible—wrapped, as it is, in intrigue and mystery. They’re contract killers. Hit men. Taciturn, solitary, hard-edged professionals who kill people for money. In theory, their work is meant to be clean and clinical. In practice, it rarely is. One way or another, they inevitably get emotionally entangled—with the job, with their family, with a partner. These guys’ plans almost never go entirely according to schedule.
Patrick Dempsey plays yet another professional killer in Memory of a Killer. The series is inspired by an early-2000s Belgian film that was released internationally under the same title, but whose original name is De Zaak Alzheimer or The Alzheimer Case. Spoiler alert right there in the title: this particular assassin has a problem. Much like in Knox Goes Away, starring Michael Keaton, the protagonist here is a hit man dealing with memory issues—which, let’s just say, is not exactly ideal for someone in his line of work. Angelo Doyle’s situation is even trickier because he’s not your classic loner but a widower with a pregnant twenty-something daughter (Odeya Rush) who believes dear old dad sells photocopiers and is constantly off at business conventions. He does travel for work, sure. It’s just that what he actually does is eliminate people.
Angelo’s wife was murdered as well, which is both a nagging emotional wound and a potential liability. He works for Dutch (the great Michael Imperioli, of The Sopranos), often alongside his somewhat clumsy nephew (Richard Harmon), and tensions are a given—especially when things go sideways or Angelo starts taking on freelance assignments. But the man—who leaves home dressed like a traveling salesman, parks his car in a rural garage, and emerges literally dressed to kill in a luxury vehicle—has another problem looming. Like his brother Mike (Richard Clarkin), whom he visits regularly in a care facility with Alzheimer’s, Angelo is beginning to forget things: the alarm code, where he left a jacket… or a gun (which does tend to complicate his love life), and even more serious matters. He’s starting to realize his professional shelf life is running out. Assuming his daughter doesn’t find out first.
Memory of a Killer checks off just about every genre cliché: the stylish assassin in expensive suits and dark sunglasses, untrustworthy bosses, shady assignments that turn out to be far messier than advertised, and that all-important emotional connection threatening to derail everything. Here, it’s his daughter, whose own personal troubles begin to make her suspect that her father may be hiding something. Between looking after her, dealing with his fading memory, and navigating a fraught relationship with his boss, things steadily go from bad to worse for Angelo. The series explores all this in what we might politely call a fairly basic way: explanatory dialogue, a string of less-than-gripping procedural scenarios, and a format that feels like a throwback to the genre’s better days. In fact, the film it’s based on—assuming my memory serves, since it’s from 2004—was considerably more inventive.
What gives the show a bit of an edge, as is often the case, is the central duo of Dempsey and Imperioli, both now small-screen veterans from decades past (for the record, in case anyone needs reminding, Dempsey was a core presence on Grey’s Anatomy for eleven seasons). Both are pushing 60, yet still retain the energy, ease, and that unmistakable ability to command attention that seasoned performers tend to have. Next to them, much of the supporting cast struggles to keep up, saddled with dialogue that’s nearly impossible to make sound believable. The two leads do what they can—occasionally even pulling off minor miracles. They can’t quite save the series, but they do make it more entertaining than it probably has any right to be.
