Criminal (2016) -

: As Pope’s memories take root, Jerico begins to experience the agent's emotions and moral compass. The film explores whether a person is merely the sum of their memories; Jerico finds himself unable to continue his previous life of pure impulse as he adopts Pope’s love for his family (Gal Gadot) and his sense of duty.

: The film features an ensemble of Academy Award winners and nominees, including Kevin Costner, Gary Oldman, and Tommy Lee Jones—reuniting them for the first time since JFK (1991).

: The film posits that Jerico’s criminality is a physical byproduct of his brain damage, specifically the inability to process right from wrong. Criminal (2016)

The 2016 film Criminal , directed by Ariel Vromen, presents a science-fiction exploration of memory, identity, and the neurobiology of morality. While the film is not based on a true story, it draws on real-world concepts in neuroscience, particularly the role of the frontal lobe in personality and the theoretical field of memory implantation.

: Dr. Franks (Tommy Lee Jones) performs a memory "duplication" rather than a transfer. The technology is described as being five years away from human trials, underscoring the experimental and desperate nature of the surgery. : As Pope’s memories take root, Jerico begins

The narrative centers on a high-stakes CIA operation to retrieve vital information from a deceased agent, Bill Pope (Ryan Reynolds), who was the only person who knew the location of a hacker known as "The Dutchman" (Michael Pitt).

The "deep" look into the film reveals a struggle between biological hardwiring and acquired experience: : The film posits that Jerico’s criminality is

: The procedure doesn't just grant facts; it grants "skills," suggesting that procedural and episodic memories are intertwined in ways that can fundamentally reshape a person's behavior. Production Context